


Hidden

by BlueScanner



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/M, Fluff, High School, Paris (City)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-24
Updated: 2018-10-06
Packaged: 2019-07-02 01:09:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 27
Words: 44,304
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15785871
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlueScanner/pseuds/BlueScanner
Summary: Slowly, things start clicking into place for the two clueless teens, Marinette and Adrien.





	1. One

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A typical day in class. (Edited)

Marinette tapped her pencil against her cheek, absently zoned out of everything around her. Her mind was on her latest fashion design, tragically stuck on the colour. Blue? No. It would clash with the accent colours. Red? No, definitely not. Her last 3 designs were varying shades of red. Suddenly, she felt an elbow at her side. She quickly glanced to Alya who was motioning to the front of the class. “Marinette?” Mlle. Bustier smiled.

“S-sorry?” Marinette stuttered.

“Do you have any input on why Romeo reacted to Juliet’s supposed death in the way he did?” Mlle. Bustier asked. Marinette took a few seconds to put her thoughts together before speaking so as not to embarrass herself any further in front of her class. She took a deep breath, hoping not to stutter.

“Well... Romeo and Juliet are young, right? Um... Around our age. And with their families being very... overbearing there’s a lot of pressure on them both. They don’t really know any better, and this is second and first love, respectively.” Marinette said. She noticed a few of her classmates who had turned to look at her, namely Adrien. He smiled at her before turning back to the front of the class.

Alya leaned close to Marinette “Girl, your face is bright red just from Adrien _looking_ at you?” Marinette swatted her away gently before covering her lower face. She was already overwhelmed by the attention from her class, and the attention from Adrien specifically flustered her more than anything. 

“Very well said, Marinette!” Mlle. Bustier said, smiling softly. “Now, if you could all read to the end of the book, to act 5, scene 3, page 14 for tomorrow.” As if on cue, the bell rang. Everyone packed up their books and supplies in unison. Suddenly, Marinette’s books were knocked off her desk. She looked up to see Chloe and Sabrina passing by, looking back smugly. Marinette took a calming breath while standing up to retrieve her books.

“Don’t worry, Marinette. I’ve got it.” Adrien said, picking the books up from his row of seats. Marinette stopped in her tracks, watching him as he handsomely picked up her books.

“How very gentlemanly of you, Adrien.” Alya said, stepping down to stand beside Nino.

“Thank you, Adrien.” Marinette said, doing everything in her power not to stutter or slip up. He handed her the books, not seeming to notice her shaking hands.

“It’s no problem.” He smiled before turning to Nino. “Nino, we’re still on for ice cream, ri-” The dull passing noise from the street below was broken by several screams outside. The 4 students turned to the window to see an ice blue girl in a vibrant figure skating outfit shooting frost from her hands at the students below.

“Another super villain? That’s the second today.” Nino sighed. “I wish we got school off on days like this. Right, Adrien?” He looked back, only to see his friend quickly backing up.

“Oh, man. Nino I’m so sorry but I totally forgot that I have Chinese lessons today. Like right now.” Adrien grimaced. “I swear we’ll get ice cream tomorrow, okay?”

“Whatever you say, man.” Nino waved him off, watching Adrien speed out of the class. “We’re never going to get ice cream until Christmas, at this rate.” Nino shook his head as Alya rested her hand on his shoulder.

"Well, Nino, I’m not doing anything, and I doubt Marinette is either, so maybe the 3 of us could get ice cream?” Alya suggested. She glanced to Marinette, knowing she would feel like a third wheel despite Alya's best efforts.

“Aaaactually, I can’t.” Marinette said, already half out the door. “I have to babysit tonight.” She rushed out of the class and down to the girls’ bathroom. She quickly checked the stalls to make sure she was alone before speaking. "Tikki, this is the second akuma attack today and the 5th this week. Do you think this is anything to worry about?" She watched the red kwami fly out of her purse. 

"We can worry about that later, Marinette." Tikki said urgently, hearing distant screams. Marinette nodded her head.

"Tikki! Spots on!" A pink light surrounded her as she transformed into Ladybug. She briefly adjusted to the suit before rushing out through the courtyard of the school and onto the street where Chat Noir was already waiting for her, leaning against a light pole.

“Always lovely to see you, my Lady.” Chat said, reaching for her hand and leaving a kiss on the back. He stood up straight and smiled, glad Ladybug offered no protest to the sign of affection.

“Not the time, Kitty.” Ladybug tapped at the bell against his neck before turning to the street. “Do you know anything about what happened?”

“Nothing beyond ‘ _No one will ever be able to disqualify me from the rink if the whole world-_ ” He imitated a high pitched voice, moving his arms in an almost more feminine way. A shriek came from down the street where the icy girl stood, freezing bystanders to the ground as they tried to flee. Chat Noir snapped back into position “But we can get to the why later.” Chat Noir said, extending his staff. Ladybug nodded her head.

“Let’s do this.” She said using her yoyo to swing closer to the akuma victim as Chat Noir ran below.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The first 4 chapters were edited after being published to have more detail added in.


	2. Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tikki gives her 2 cents. (Combined with the next chapter)

“Pound it!” The two heroes said in unison. The figure skater sat before them, dazed and confused. 

“Where... What am I doing here?” The girl said, rubbing her head. Her eyes were distant and glassy. “Oh no... Was I akumatized?” She looked around. "I just..." She sounded as if she was struggling to find words. Her short skirt gathered around her thighs, the white rhinestones inspiring Ladybug and nearly blinding Chat Noir. 

“Yes, but it’s all okay now.” Ladybug said, giving a reassuring nod. She opened her mouth to speak just as her earrings beeped. “Sorry, I have to go. Maybe Chat will have a little more time to talk...” She said tipping her head to Chat Noir. 

“Wait, M’lady...” Chat said, reaching out for Ladybug’s arm. She pulled back, his hand falling just short of reaching her.

“I can’t, Chat.” She said, glancing at his ring. “And as a matter of fact, you can’t either.” She tapped his ring as it let out a beep. He sighed. 

“Sorry, gotta go too.” Chat tapped his fingers against his forehead as a farewell to the girl. Ladybug ran off, jumping off the roof they stood on and using her yoyo to escape just in time to detransform. The pink light began to envelop her as she twisted around a corner, barely getting into cover in time. She let out a sigh of relief as she stretched, already coming up with an excuse as to why she’s getting home so late after school. Tikki darted into Marinette's purse as Marinette glanced out of the alleyway, making sure no one saw Ladybug dive into cover. When she felt safe, she walked out and down the street to her bakery home. 

“Marinette! Are you okay? We heard about the attack outside of your school.” Sabine said, putting down the baking tray she was holding. Her face was full of relief. “We were so worried when you didn’t get home on time.”

“I’m fine. I just... hid in the bathroom when I saw what was happening outside.” Marinette said, grabbing a macaron from the counter. 

“I’m glad you’re okay.” Sabine smiled, resting her hand on Marinette's shoulder as she passed. “Dinner will be ready soon.”

“Okay, thank you.” Marinette walked past her mother, stuffing the macaron into her purse. She made her way up to her room and sat down on her bed. Tikki popped out of her purse and hovered over Marinette’s shoulder. 

“Good job today, Marinette.” Tikki said, nudging Marinette's shoulder with her head.

“Thanks. I do wish I could have gotten ice cream with Alya and Nino, though. It’s such a nice day out.” Marinette sighed, pulling out her homework, which she nearly dropped when her phone started ringing. "Hello?" She said, holding it to her ear. 

“Hey, I wanted to make sure you made it to your babysitting gig safe.” Alya said through the phone. “Also, I got some good shots of Ladybug while she was fighting earlier and I wanted you to tell me which ones are best for me to post on the Ladyblog. Nino was no help.”  
“Sure, send them my way.” Marinette said, setting her phone to speakerphone.

“It’s no trouble, right? I’m not taking away from your babysitting abilities, am I?” Alya asked.

“Oh! No, no. Manon is just playing on her own.” Marinette lied. She glanced at Tikki who was busy looking out the window.

“Great. I’m sending them now.” 

“Are you still with Nino?” Marinette asked, waiting.

“No, I just said goodbye to him before I called you. I’m on my way home now.” Alya sighed. “Adrien has horrible planning skills for someone who’s life is micromanaged.”

“Yeah, he does cancel a lot. Was Nino disappointed?” Marinette thought about how much Adrien had bailed on Nino (And occasionally group outings that she was a part of) as she opened the new texts from Alya, skimming through the dozens of action shots of herself. She always found it a little weird to look at herself in costume from a third person view.

“I’m sure he was, but he made it well known he’s always happy to hang out with yours truly.” Marinette could hear the smile in Alya’s voice. 

“I’m happy for you, Alya.” Marinette said, coming to the last of the photos. “I liked numbers 2, 5, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, and 20 best.”

“Thanks, girl.” Alya said. “I’ll see you tomorrow at school.” 

“See you.” Marinette hung up, dropping her phone on her bed. “Adrien does bail on everyone often, now that I think about it.” She looked to Tikki, who had moved to the end of Marinette's bed.

“Not unlike you?” Tikki tilted her head, giving Marinette a knowing look.

“Hey! You know it’s not just that I’m forgetful, I’m a superhero. I have to bail... Sometimes.” Marinette frowned at Tikki, pulling out her homework again. “He must just be forgetful.” She said, far too sure of herself and not bothering to consider any options.

“Right...” Tikki said, settling down to help Marinette with her homework.

\--------------

“I’m never going to find out who she is, am I?” Adrien slouched on his couch, watching his kwami devour cheese. 

“Not with that attitude.” Plagg said finishing off the chunk. 

“I never get a chance to talk to her after fighting, and when I try to worm my way into a conversation she runs off!” Adrien dragged his hand down his face. All he wanted was to be able to talk to her outside of battle more than the few times he already had. 

“You could always try figuring out who she is on your own.” Plagg suggested, lazing around. 

“I... I couldn't do that. She doesn't want us to know who the other is.” Adrien sat up. "I just wish I knew if she dosen't want to know because someone told her not to, or maybe she thinks it's to dangerous. Or maybe she just dosen't want me to know because I'm me." He looked out of his window, frowning. “And besides, I don’t even know where I would start with trying to find out who she is.” 

“There’s that blog.” Plagg stretched in the air. 

“The ladyblog! Alya does keep it pretty detailed... And it would be the best place to start.” Adrien tapped his fingers against his coffee table. “But it wouldn’t be right.” He glanced up to Plagg. “Right?” He felt unsure of himself, mentally battling with what Ladybug wanted and with what he wanted.

“What do you want?” Plagg said, already knowing the answer as Adrien rushed to his desk and pulled out the chair. What he wanted had won the battle. He nudged his computer to life, quickly loading up the ladyblog. “Of course.” Plagg floated over to the desk, lounging beside the keyboard. 

“We’re partners! We should know who eachother are.” Adrien nodded his head, sure of himself. He looked through the pictures from that day. “Don’t you think she looked beautiful today, Plagg?” 

“Not anymore beautiful than my camembert.” Plagg patted his stomach. “Speaking of which...” 

“We’re out of it.” Adrien dismissed him, clicking through the blog. “Oh, that’s right! She had the same textbook that I have a few months back!” Adrien pulled up Alya’s video about it. 

“Ladybug in action! Hang on, cause we’re going for a ride!” Alya’s voice was crystal clear through Adrien’s speakers. “Freak out! What you’ve got here is no ordinary book, it’s a 10th grade history book. And I should know, cause I’ve got this very same book. Could our very own Ladybug be a high school student in real life?” The video came to a close. 

“Do you think she could be a high school student? Let alone one from my school?” Adrien pondered. 

“What happened to not going against what she wants?” Plagg sifted through the papers on the desk. 

“I... Don’t I deserve to know? We could help each other in our real lives! We could... get to know each other better.” Adrien sighed, leaning back into his chair. “Back to the text book. Why would she have a textbook if she isn’t a student? She... I know she said she was older than a high school student but...” Adrien clicked through pages of the blog. “She could be lying. It’s not like she wants anyone to know who she is, so why would she tell the truth. And you! There have been other Chat Noirs, right?” 

"You’re not the first.” Plagg said, waving his paw in the air.

“So she’s probably not the first Ladybug.” Adrien looked at Plagg. “Right? You would know, wouldn’t you?”

“I can’t remember.” 

“Of course you can’t.” Adrien sighed. “It’s not impossible to think she could be my age. I mean, I was chosen to be Chat Noir and I’m this young. She could have become Ladybug at the same time I became Chat Noir.” He flipped through photos of Ladybug and himself on the blog. “But maybe she... picked it up after saving someone? There are ways to explain why she had the textbook. And she’s so... Smart. And great. And it almost feels like she’s been a superhero forever, she always knows what to do...” He trailed off, glancing at Plagg who has started to fall asleep. “Glad to see you’re interested.” He said, turning back to the blog.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I edited this chapter, as well as combined it with what used to be chapter 3 since I've been told chapter 3 is too short to be it's own chapter.


	3. Three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chloe causes her millionth akuma.

Marinette rushed into class, nearly slipping as she slid into her seat. “What’s with the rush? The bell hasn’t gone yet.” Alya said, resting her head on her hand, giving Marinette the same look she would have given if she had been actually late. Marinette groaned.

“I thought I was late.” Marinette pulled out her books, no longer in a rush.

“Check out Adrien.” Alya said quietly, nodding her head to Adrien. Marinette leaned over to get a better look at him, as he was hunched over his desk, seemingly asleep. She noticed how his hair was messier than usual, almost like a certain cat's hair. His bag was knocked over on the ground beside him, his books spilling out. 

“Is he... okay?” Marinette asked, sitting back down. 

“Hey, Nino.” Alya tapped at Nino’s shoulder’s from above. “What’s up with Adrien?”

“He-“ Nino paused as Adrien raised his head and turned to Alya. 

“You know, you could just ask me.” He said, his eyes and smile distant. 

“I didn’t want to wake up sleeping beauty.” Alya laughed, noticing the dark circles under his eyes. “So what’s up? Are you okay?”

“I just didn’t get enough sleep last night. I was up pretty late researching.” Adrien said, stretching. The Ladyblog had surprised him with how many pages existed on there. He didn’t check it nearly as often as he thought he did. 

“Were you doing research on the science paper? That’s taking Marinette and I forever.” Alya tipped her head to Marinette, who sheepishly smiled as Adrien glanced at her.

“Yeah, yeah. That.” Adrien yawned, happy for an excuse. He turned back to the front of the class as their teacher walked in, starting the lesson. Alya turned to Marinette and lowered her voice.

"Maybe we could ask Nino and Adrien to come to the library with us tonight to work on our science papers.” She smiled. 

“That would be nice.” Marinette said, avoiding committing to anything. Akuma attacks had been happening more and more frequently as of late, and she found herself cancelling plans and feeling awful over it. 

Marinette found herself almost as distracted as Adrien, simply from watching him doze off for the whole class. As Mlle. Bustier wrapped up the lesson, Alya leaned over again. “That seemed to be a bit more of a lesson about Adrien’s sleeping patterns than on Shakespeare for you.” 

“What? I was listening!” Marinette said, her cheeks growing redder. “We need to hurry up and get to history.” She said, rushing to pack her things. 

“Hey, Alya, I’ve been meaning to ask you something.” Adrien said, stepping up to Marinette and Alya’s seat. “Do you still have that textbook that Ladybug dropped?”

"Nope. It just straight up vanished from my bag after I was almost sacrificed.” Alya said, stuffing her books into her bag. “Why?” 

“No reason, just remembered that and was curious.” Adrien glanced at Nino, who was waiting for him. “I’ll see you both in History.” He said, smiling at Marinette. The two boys walked out of the class as Alya and Marinette started to make their way out. 

“Why do you think Adrien wanted to know about that textbook?” Marinette asked, only panicking a lot. 

"Maybe he’s trying to find out who Ladybug is.” Alya suggested, knowing Adrien would have trouble figuring it out if even she couldn't piece it together. There's no way he would know more about Ladybug than her. “Although it beats me why he’d want to know about that textbook.” 

“What do you mean?” Marinette hoped she wasn’t coming off suspicious. Alya had already borderline accused Marinette of being Ladybug after she found that textbook, and she definitely didn't need Adrien _and_ Alya on her trail.

“Well I don’t even know why Ladybug had that in the first place. She said she was older than a high school student, right?” Alya pushed open the history room door. “Unless she was lying about that...” 

"I doubt that!” Marinette said, her voice coming out high. “Why would she lie about that?” She rushed out, trying to think of something to distract Alya with.

“I don’t know.” Alya sat down at her seat. “It’s something to think about.” Marinette sat down beside her, doing everything in her power to not demand Alya stop thinking about it. “It’s weird that Nino and Adrien didn’t get here before us.” Alya said, noticing the empty seats in front of her. 

“That’s weird...” Marinette glanced at the door, taking note of the lack of Adrien. 

“Let’s hope Adrien didn’t get akumatized from sleep deprivation.” Alya joked. 

“I don’t think that’s how that works-” Marinette stopped, hearing a crash followed by several screams from the courtyard. Everyone stood up and rushed out of the door to lean over the railing. A huge monstrous looking boy swung his arms around, destroying a wall. 

“No one...” He yelled out, punching through another wall. “Can call me small again!” He roared, looking up to the balcony where the students stood. “Chloe!” He screamed. 

“Ew! Why is that thing talking to me?” Chloe recoiled, everyone looking at her. “Oh. My. God. Is that who I think it is?” She gasped, moving closer to the railing. “It’s that little freshman twerp from earlier!” She said, her face showing no remorse and only disgust. 

“Are you kidding me? You caused another Akuma?” One of the other students groaned. The giant began scaling the side of the school, climbing towards Chloe. Everyone ran, screaming and scattering down the stairs. Marinette took the opportunity to split off, rushing into an empty classroom to transform. "Tiki! Spots on!" She called out, the pink light enveloped her and seeped through the classroom windows and door. Marinette hoped the students would be too distracted to notice. She rushed out, catching Chat Noir dart out of the locker room from the corner of her eye. 

“Bugaboo.” Chat Noir said, rushing to Ladybug’s side. 

"Hey, kitty. Are you ready?” She said, pulling out her yoyo. 

“Alwa-” Chat Noir stopped, yawning. “Always.”

“Are you sure? You look a little... out of it.” Ladybug scanned him up and down, taking note of his slouched posture, and somehow messier hair than usual.

“I’m a little tired." Chat Noir said, shaking his head. "But that’s not what you should be worrying about.” He used his staff to point up to the Giant, who had taken Chloe in his hand, violently shaking her up and down as students ran out of the school.

“Let me go, you- ugh!” Chloe exclaimed as the Giant took off, leaving the school. Chat Noir wordlessly ran after him, leaving Ladybug standing alone. She watched after him for a moment before shaking off the familiar feeling from looking at Chat Noir tired and distraught. She chased behind him, running down the street to chase after the Giant.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Last of the edited chapters.


	4. Four

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ladybug and Chat Noir battle it out with a Giant.

Ladybug swung her yoyo, wrapping the string around the Giant’s wrist. “Chat Noir! Now!” She called out, glancing around to see Chat Noir come running from the top of a nearby roof, his staff extended. She expected Chat Noir to jump down and land on the Giant as planned, however, she was caught off guard by the Giant turning to face her instead of Chat Noir. He roared, using his free hand to grab a nearby abandoned bus. Ladybug pulled back on the yoyo with all of her strength, hoping to make him drop the bus. Ladybug watched as Chat Noir dropped down to the street, missing the Giant by a few feet. He clearly hadn’t anticipated the change in position. 

“Where... Is... Chloe!” The Giant roared, throwing the bus at Ladybug. She released the yoyo, trying to scramble back to miss the bus. 

“Ladybug!” Chat Noir yelled, watching the bus come down over top of her. The bus had landed sideways, and Chat Noir was unable to see that Ladybug had gone through one of the windows. Inside the bus, she took a few moments to collect herself, having fully expected to be crushed. The Giant stomped closer to the bus, seeing Ladybug fully intact inside as he peered over. He reached forward, using his hands to crush either side of the bus, trapping Ladybug inside.

Chat Noir clued in to the fact that Ladybug was still alive in the bus, otherwise he had no idea why the Giant would crush the sides of the bus. “Cataclysm!” He yelled out, bracing his hand as he ran towards the bus. He dodged past the Giant as he dove for the bus, destroying it. Ladybug stood up straight, smiling at Chat Noir as she ran for her discarded Yoyo. Chat Noir fell into step beside her. 

“What did Chloe say about him before you brought her to safety?” Ladybug asked, grabbing her Yoyo. 

“She was going on about how small he was before, and- oh! How big his hat looked on him!” Chat Noir used his staff to knock a compact car thrown by the Giant away. 

“But he’s not... He’s not wearing a hat right now.” Ladybug looked up, scanning the Giant’s head from afar. “I can’t see through all of his hair.” 

“Do you think the hat might be under his hair?” Chat Noir suggested. “Maybe it’s where the Akuma is, and it didn’t grow in size with him.”

“So now the hat looks small on him... Good thinking!” Ladybug said. “Now we just have to get up there.”

“You distract him, I’ll-” Chat Noir was cut off by his ring beeping. “I’ll be right back.” Ladybug nodded her head as Chat Noir ran off. Ladybug ran towards the nearest building, watching as the Giant slowly chased after her. She intended to keep him as close to the rooftops as she could until Chat Noir returned. 

“Give me Chloe!” He roared, smashing his fists into a building. Ladybug paused, wondering if it would be worth it to try and get the hat herself, or if she would wait for Chat Noir’s return. Her decision was made for her when the Giant smashed another wall, this time exposing the people hiding inside. He reached in and grabbed one, throwing him at Ladybug. She reacted quickly, catching the man. She gently let him down to the ground.

"Are you okay?" She asked, scanning him for any injuries.

"I... I think so." He said, rubbing his head. Ladybug nodded her head, deciding her priorities.

"You need to get to safety, fast." She said, helping him stand. He stumbled for a moment before taking off into a nearby building. Wanting to end the fight before anyone else was injured, she threw her yoyo into the air. “Lucky Charm!” She said, waiting for the charm to drop whatever it felt like. “A baseball?” She said, catching the ball. She looked up at the Giant to see Chat Noir diving from the rooftop to the Giant’s head. He was atop the Giant for barely a few moments before he was swatted off. He fell to the ground, staying there a moment longer than usual before standing up. 

“He does have a hat up there!” Chat Noir called out to Ladybug using his staff to point up to the Giant. Ladybug glanced up at the Giant, then back at the ball in her hand. 

“I have a plan! Chat Noir, distract him!” She yelled, throwing the end of her yoyo to the top of a nearby building. She pulled herself up, swinging quickly. As Chat Noir kept him distracted from below, Ladybug swung by, throwing the baseball. It collided with the hat, knocking it from the tangles in his hair. It dropped to the ground, landing by Chat Noir. The Giant tried to reach down for the hat, but he was far too slow. Chat Noit tore it in half as Ladybug came to the ground, readying her yoyo to capture the Akuma. The Akuma flew to the sky, trying to escape. “No more evildoing for you, little butterfly!” She said, capturing it. Chat Noir watched as the Giant transformed back to a small, teenage boy. Chat Noir found the baseball a few feet away and tossed it to Ladybug. “Miraculous Ladybug!” She said, throwing it into the air. A light cascaded over everything, returning it to normal. 

“Pound it!” The duo said, Chat Noir walking up beside Ladybug. 

“Your sleepiness seems to have worn off.” Ladybug commented. 

“The adrenaline always helps. Fighting has a way of waking me up. Although I am starting to crash.” Chat Noir said, extending his pole to lean on. “Say, my lady...”

“Hold on. If my timing is right...” Ladybug trailed off as her earrings beeped. “There it is.” She looked at Chat Noir. “This time, you can actually stick around and help the Akuma victim.” She smiled, nodding to his ring. 

“Right. Of course.” He said. “But, Bugaboo, maybe we could-” 

“Sorry, Kitty cat. You know the drill.” She said, rushing off. “Until next time!” She waved goodbye before dashing between the nearest buildings. “Tikki, spots off!” She quickly detransformed, stretching her arms. 

“Marinette, I’m famished.” Tikki said, floating meekly. 

“Hold on, Tikki. I don’t have any sweets on me, but...” Marinette pulled out her phone, checking the time. “There’s still 2 hours left of class. I have a cookie in my locker for you.” 

“Do you really think there will still be classes after the attack?” Tikki asked, resting in Marinette’s purse.

“They stopped cancelling school after the amount of attacks recently. I guess we would miss too much school if they cancelled every time the school had an Akuma.” Marinette walked out onto the street and rushed back to school as fast as she could run.


	5. Five

“Alright, Tikki. Tell me what you think.” Marinette said, holding up her sketch book. She had spent her Saturday morning modifying and finalizing the design she had been stuck on for the past few days. Marinette watched in anticipation as Tikki scanned over the page.

“It looks great!” Tikki smiled as Marinette lowered the sketchbook. “The rhinestones remind me of something...” She tapped her jaw, thinking.

“I was inspired by the figure skater from a few days ago. Seeing the white rhinestones finally helped me decide on a colour.” Marinette said, closing her sketchbook. “I don’t know if I should make the dress you just saw for the dance, or this other one I designed a while back.” She rested her head on her hand. 

“Have I seen the other design?” Tikki asked. 

“No, do you want to?” Marinette offered. Tikki nodded as Marinette reopened her sketchbook to a different page. She held it up for Tikki to see.

“It’s beautiful, Marinette.” Tikki said, admiring the design. “Will you have time to make either of these for the dance?” 

“Yeah, as long as I figure it out by tonight I’ll have enough time.” She said, closing the sketchbook before tucking it away. She really wanted the best design she could come up with for the dance. If she could get a certain someone’s attention... It would be all she could ask for. “What time is it?” 

“Let me check.” Tikki flew over to Marinette’s computer, checking the time. “It’s 12:46.” Tikku glanced back to Marinette, who jumped up off of her chair and rushed to the other side of her room, grabbing her purse. “Marinette?”

“I’m late! I told Alya I would meet her and the girls at 12:30!” Marinette darted around her room, gathering her things. “I’m already 16 minutes late. And it’s another 15 minute walk.” She groaned, tightening her shoes. 

“Marinette...” Tikki said as Marinette noticed her phone buzz. She dove across the room, grabbing it. 

“Alya’s asking where I am.” Marinette tapped her fingers against her desk. “I’ll tell her I’ll be there soon. I guess I’ll just... run?” She wrote in her response. “I’m not going to make it.” She tossed her phone in her purse and ran over to her room hatch, crouching down in front of it.

“Marinette.” Tikki flew over to the hatch and stood atop it, blocking Marinette. 

“I need to go, Tikki.” Marinette pulled back, waiting. 

“Wouldn’t you be able to get there faster as Ladybug?” Tikki put her arms out and mimed a swinging motion. Marinette’s eyes lit up.

“You’re a genius, Tikki.” Marinette stood up. “Tikki, spots on!” She called out, transforming into Ladybug. She popped open the hatch on her roof and climbed up. She used her yoyo to swing away, towards a park. She heard a few gasps from the streets below in response to the sudden appearance of Ladybug. She could hear the occasional chatter over if there was an Akuma attack somewhere in the city. She dropped to the ground a block away from the park in an alleyway between 2 buildings. “Spots off.” She said, her clothing returning to normal. Tikki quickly flew into Marinette’s purse as Marinette snapped it shut, running out of the alley. 

She rushed to the park as fast as she could, now only being 20 minutes late. She spotted Alya and the others and rushed over, casually sliding into the group. “So, what’s your excuse?” Alya said, her arms crossed and smirking. 

“What? I- uh” Marinette stuttered. “I totally lost track of time. I’m sorry.” Marinette said, rubbing the back of her neck apologetically. “You guys haven’t already gotten milkshakes, have you?” 

“Nope! We were waiting for you.” Rose jumped in, smiling. She rocked back and forth excitedly on her heels, Juleka standing the complete opposite beside her. Alix skated around the outside of the group towards Marinette.

“But now that you’re here, we can go.” She said, skating past Marinette and back around. Everyone nodded and started walking towards the milkshake parlor. 

“Oh I really hope that the special surprise didn’t get bored and leave.” Rose sighed, leaning against Juleka as they walked.

“Rose!” Mylene said. “You weren’t supposed to say anything!” She glanced back worriedly at Marinette, who was squinting at Alya. 

“Special surprise?” Marinette asked, taking note of Alya’s severely annoyed expression. 

“You’ll find out when we get there.” Alya said, sighing. “In the meantime, let’s talk about anything else!” The group looked amongst themselves, trying to think of something to talk about. 

“How many times do you guys think that Chloe will cause an Akuma attack before she gets kicked out of school?” Alix asked, slowly skating beside Mylene. 

“As many as she can, apparently. There’s no way she would ever get punished, let alone kicked out of school since her daddy’s the mayor.” Alya said, frowning. “The only good that ever comes from her causing attacks at school is that it makes it easier to get good shots of Ladybug at the start of the action.” She used her hands to mime taking a picture as the group crossed over a small bridge, approaching the parlor. Juleka pushed open the door, the rest of the girls following behind, with Marinette the furthest. She craned her neck to try to see over everyone, but to no avail. She flooded in behind, taking a look around the parlor and finally noticed the surprise.

“What took you guys so long?” Nino said, sitting in a booth and sipping at a milkshake. Adrien sat beside him, without a milkshake. Ivan and Nathanial stood at the counter, talking to the worker. 

“Who do you think?” Alya said, jutting her thumb towards Marinette. “I nearly thought she was going to call and bail.” Adrien glanced towards Marinette, sending a wave of heat down the back of her neck. Nino looked at Adrien. 

“Marinette and Adrien seem to have a lot in common.” Nino commented, jabbing his elbow into Adrien’s side. 

“Hey, I wasn’t late.” Adrien laughed, pushing Nino away. Marinette looked over to the counter, where Mylene and Alix walked over to meet Nathaniel and Ivan, who had just ordered milkshakes for themselves. 

“Glad to see you guys waited for us to get milkshakes.” Alya said, sliding into the booth across from Nino. Marinette followed suit, sitting across from Adrien. Nino took a sip from his milkshake.

“Everyone else waited.” Adrien glanced to Ivan and Nathaniel. “Well, you got here just in time for everyone else to have waited. Some people don’t have patience.” Nino waved him off, taking another sip of his milkshake. “Do you two want to go order milkshakes?” Adrien turned to Marinette and Alya. 

“No thanks, I’m okay sharing with Nino for now.” Alya said, sliding Nino’s milkshake towards her. “You two go ahead. And maybe get us a second straw?” She looked at Marinette and winked. 

Adrien stood up. “Do you want to?” He said, waiting for Marinette. 

“Do I want to get shakemilks?” Marinette stood straight up. “Of course!” She said, stepping beside Adrien. 

“Shakemilks?” Adrien smiled, turning to walk to the counter. Marinette froze briefly before jumping forward to catch up. 

“D-did I say that?” She laughed nervously, coming to a stop in front of the counter. 

“What can I get you two?” The employee behind the counter said, lining up empty glasses. 

“I’ll get... a key lime milkshake.” Adrien said, putting his cash on the counter. “What about you, Marinette?” 

Marinette’s thoughts were a mile a minute. Is there an answer that would impress Adrien? No, probably not. Should she also order a key lime milkshake? No, no. That would come off as weird, probably. Should she pick something random off of the menu? Definitely not. She’d end up with something gross for sure. Eventually, she came to the conclusion that over thinking it could make it weird. “I’ll get a strawberry milkshake, please.” She said after what felt like an eternity, pulling out change from her purse.

“Coming right up!” The worker said, turning to start on the milkshakes. Adrien turned to Marinette, leaning a little over the counter. 

“So why were you late?” He asked, resting his head on his hand. 

“Oh- I was working on a design for a dress.” Marinette said, doing absolutely everything in her power to compose herself. 

“That’s right. You’re a great designer.” He smiled, melting Marinette’s heart. “Is it for anything?” 

“Yeah, um, I want to make myself a dress for the dance coming up.” Marinette said, working herself up. “Are... are you going to the dance?” She looked away, unable to look at him.

“I am. I’ll make sure to keep an eye out for your dress. I’m sure it’ll be beautiful.” Adrien smiled looking at Marinette, despite the fact that she was intensely staring at the counter, trying to hide her bright red face. Adrien glanced back to the booth. “It’s a good thing they have huge booths here, there’s just enough space for the two of us now that everyone else is sitting.” He said, not appearing to notice the fact that Marinette was in the process of imploding. Adrien said her dress would be beautiful. She was barely containing herself. 

“Here you two are. Enjoy!” The worker said, sliding the green and red milkshakes across the counter. 

“Thanks.” Adrien said, taking his along with an extra straw. He stood, waiting for Marinette to look up and take her milkshake, but she seemed to be glued to the marble counter. He reached over and picked up hers. “C’mon. Let’s go join everyone.” He said, nudging her arm with his elbow. Suddenly, she snapped to attention, looking up and noticing the two milkshakes in Adrien’s hands. She nodded her head and walked back to the table with Adrien. Marinette sat at the edge of the booth, beside Alix. Adrien put her milkshake down in front of her and sat down across from her, passing the straw down to Alya and Nino, who were at the other end. 

“Adrien, dude, what flavour is that?” Nino asked, looking at Adrien’s milkshake as he accepted the straw. 

“It’s key lime.” Adrien replied, taking a sip of it. Nino glanced to Alya, who leaned forward a bit to look at Marinette. 

“I didn’t know they had that flavour. Have you ever had it, Marinette?” She asked, her eyebrows raised innocently.

“No, I haven’t.” Marinette stirred at her milkshake, her brow furrowed in an attempt to figure out what Alya’s plan was. Alya looked at Adrien, who glanced back and forth between Nino, Alya, and Marinette. 

“Do you want to try it?” He offered Marinette. 

“Sure.” Marinette said as Adrien slid his glass over. She took a sip before sliding it back over to Adrien. “It’s good.” She smiled. 

“It is, isn’t it?” Adrien said, taking his own sip. Chatter resumed throughout the table as Marinette took a sip of her own milkshake. She looked up to see Alya giving her a smug look. She paused, thinking hard about what she could be trying to communicate when it hit her. She started blushing again, realizing her drinking from the same straw that Adrien had drank from was essentially an indirect kiss. She looked back to Alya, absolutely astonished that she had seemingly planned that with Nino.


	6. Six

“The way you stare at Adrien is pathetic.” Chloe said, flipping her hair. The one day that Marinette managed to get to class early was the only day Adrien and Nino both arrived late, giving Chloe the perfect opportunity to torment her. 

“And the way you cling to him is even more pathetic.” Alya chimed in from Marinette’s side. Marinette often chose not to respond to Chloe’s verbal attacks at this point, as they usually escalated quickly when she did. She only found herself standing up to Chloe whenever someone else was being tormented and couldn’t defend themselves. Otherwise, she stayed out of it. Chloe huffed as Sabrina crossed her arms.

"It’s pathetic that-” Sabrina began to say before being cut off by Chloe’s hand. 

“No, no. It’s absolutely pathetic that you and Nino have been doing whatever you do for so long so, but you still aren’t official. Are you always going to be number 2, Alya?” Chloe leaned forward, sneering. Alya recoiled, Marinette seeing this as her time to jump in. 

“Alya’s relationship is none of your business, Chloe. Why don’t you go-” Marinette said, balling up her fists. All 4 girls turned to the door as Nino and Adrien rushed into the class, followed by Mlle. Bustier. The 2 boys slid into their seats as their teacher took her place at the front. 

“Chloe, Sabrina, if you could please take your seats.” She smiled, picking up a few papers on her desk. Chloe smirked as she turned away from Marinette and Alya, sashaying down to her desk with Sabrina rushing to follow her. Marinette turned to Alya, who was frowning at her desk, her arms crossed atop it. Marinette rested her hand on Alya’s shoulder, trying to comfort her. 

“Good morning, class.” Mlle. Bustier said, smiling at every student. “Before I announce the final project, I want to verify that everyone finished Romeo and Juliet as they were supposed to. If you finished it, please raise your hand.” She glanced around the room, watching every student raise their hands. “Now, I certainly hope none of you are lying, because your final project requires you to have read it to the end. You’ll need to partner up and write an essay on anything on the topic of Romeo and Juliet of your choice, as well as act out one scene from the play in front of the class.” 

Immediately, the students began chattering amongst themselves, partnering up. “Not so fast.” Mlle. Bustier said, bringing the class to silence. “I’ve noticed that you all seem to pair up with the same people every time. So, to expand your horizons, you’ll need to pick a partner that you do not usually work with.” She glanced around the room. “So that means that Chloe and Sabrina, Mylene and Ivan, Marinette and Alya, Rose and Juleka, and Adrien and Nino, and so forth, can’t partner up with each other.” She clasped her hands together, gathering some groans from around the class. “Once you pick a partner, one of you can come and tell me so I can give you a project outline.”

Students began getting up and talking to each other, trying to find a partner. Alya leaned forward over her table, popping her head next to Nino. “So, Nino. Want to partner up?” She asked, seemingly to have completely shaken off what Chloe said. He turned to her and smiled.

“Sounds great.” He said, nodding his head. Marinette gazed longingly at Adrien, not having the courage to ask him anything. Alya noticed Marinette gazing at Adrien, then noticed Chloe doing the same, but with one key difference. She was about to stand up and act on it. Alya quickly turned to Adrien. 

“Adrien, you don’t have a partner, right?” She rushed out, watching Chloe from the corner of her eye. 

“Nope.” Adrien said, looking back at Alya.

“Well, without me, neither does Marinette. Maybe you two could work together?” She suggested, tipping her head towards Marinette, who looked surprised. 

“Sure, that works for me.” Adrien said, smiling at Marinette. Alya relaxed, sitting back in her seat as Chloe approached. She stood in front of Adrien’s desk, leaning over towards him suggestively.

“Adrikins~” she cooed out, using the back of her folded hands to hold her head up. “Since you can’t work with Nino, and I can’t work with Sabrina, I decided that we should work together.” She reached out, fixing his hair. Adrien pulled back a little.

“Sorry, Chloe, but I’m already partnered up with Marinette.” He said, motioning to Marinette with his hand. 

“You would rather work with her than with me?” She said, looking disgusted. “You’re joking, right?” She asked, standing up straight and holding her hand against her chest. 

“No, I’ve already decided, Chloe.” Adrien said, really not wanting to argue with Chloe. Chloe turned her gaze to Marinette, who looked immensely uncomfortable. Chloe squinted at her, taking a deep breath. 

“Marinette Dupain-Cheng. If you think that you are in any way better than me, know that you are not. The thought of that is utterly ridiculous because you are below me in every way. If you think you deserve Adrien, you’re wrong.” She sneered, clearly enraged. 

“Chloe, stop. That’s awful.” Adrien said, standing up behind his desk. “Saying stuff like that dosen’t make me want to work with you.” 

“But Adrikins! You’re so much better than she is! That’s all I’m saying.” Chloe batted her eyelashes, looking innocent. Adrien sighed, stepping into the aisle.

“Marinette, I’m going to go let Mlle. Bustier know we’re working together.” Adrien smiled at Marinette before walking to the front of the class. Marinette nodded her head, doing her best to ignore Chloe. 

“Chloe, you really should just go sit down. You lost, accept it.” Alya said, frowning at Chloe. Chloe clicked her tounge and crossed her arms.

“Fine. Have fun always winning silver medals, Alya.” Chloe sneered before turning away, walking over to Mlle. Bustier. Adrien walked away from their teacher just as Chloe approached, clearly trying to avoid a conversation with her. He walked back to Marinette and handed her a project outline. 

“Are you busy after school today, Marinette? I think it would be a good idea to get together and decide what we’re writing our paper on, and also pick a scene.” Adrien asked, sitting back down at his desk. 

“I’m free. After school. Today.” Marinette said, pausing when she knew she really didn’t need to. Alya only shook her head in response. 

“Great, I’ll come over to your house after my fencing lesson.” Adrien smiled and turned to the front of the class, skimming over the outline. 

“Listen to what Chloe is saying to Mlle. Bustier.” Alya said, rolling her eyes. Marinette listened carefully, barely making out that Chloe was demanding Mlle. Bustier let her and Sabrina work together. Marinette shook her head. 

“You shouldn’t let what she says get to you, Alya.” Marinette said, frowning. 

“Don’t worry, I don’t.” Alya said, conjuring up a smile despite the fact that she was clearly bothered. 

“If you say so. I’m here if you need to talk, though.” Marinette smiled at Alya, resting her hand on her shoulder. 

“Don’t worry about me.” Alya waved off Marinette. “Have a good time with Adrien tonight.” She said, smiling. Marinette blushed and shook off Alya, looking at Adrien longingly.

"Ah, I forgot to mention. In the case that you are doing a scene with more than 2 characters, you can group up with another group, so long as the scene you put on features you and your partner as the primary speakers throughout the performance." Mlle. Bustier said, a line of students ready to declare their partners standing before her desk.


	7. Seven

“Okay. We did it.” Marinette said, taking in her room. She had rushed home straight after school so that her and Tikki could take down every picture of Adrien (Which admittedly was a lot) with plenty of time to spare before his fencing lesson was over. 

"Oh, wait, Marinette?” Tikki flew over, tapping Marinette’s shoulder. “Did you get the ones under your mattress?” Marinette froze, her eyes snapping to her loft bed. She rushed up her ladder and pulled her mattress up. Tikki flew up and gathered the photos underneath. “I don’t see why Adrien would ever see under your mattress, but you never can be too careful.” Tikki said, floating down beside a cabinet. Marinette slid down the ladder and opened the drawer for Tikki, letting her drop the photos in with the rest of them. 

“Now we can relax.” Marinette said, falling down onto her desk chair. She stretched out, ready to relax until Adrien arrived. 

“Are you going to be able to actually get work done with Adrien?” Tikki asked, resting on Marinette’s desk. Marinette rolled her eyes before closing them.

“It’ll be fine, I can keep myself together.” She leaned back in her chair, relaxing. 

“Marinette!” Sabine called from below. “You have a guest!” Marinette sat up straight, rushing to her room hatch. She popped it open and nearly ran down the stairs, coming to a halt at her front door. Her mother stood before her, with Adrien in the doorframe. 

“Hi, Marinette.” Adrien said, smiling. Marinette did everything in her power to keep herself composed. 

“Hi. We can go up to my room to work.” Marinette said, waving Adrien inside. The two teens began their way up the stairs. 

“What are you two working on?” Sabine asked, standing at the base of the stairs. 

“Romeo and Juliet, Mom.” Marinette said, pushing open the hatch to her room. 

“Your father and I are going to be downstairs in the bakery if you need us!” Sabine called out after her daughter, waving her hand. Marinette stepped upstairs and waited for Adrien to follow, closing the hatch behind him. 

“So, um.” Marinette said, glancing around her room. “I have a chair for you here. We can work at my desk.” She said, walking to the spare chair she had brought up to her room earlier. She pushed it over to her desk, next to her chair. Marinette sat down, Adrien following suit beside her. Adrien pulled his copy of Romeo and Juliet out of his bag, opening it on the desk.

“So, do you want to decide on our essay topic first, or the scene we’ll be acting out first?” Adrien asked, looking at Marinette. Marinette stared at his book, thinking. 

“Maybe we should decide on an essay topic first, and then pick a scene that fits the essay topic well?” Marinette suggested. 

“That sounds good to me.” Adrien nodded. “So, do you have anything in mind for the essay? I couldn’t come up with anything, so worst case scenario, we can brainstorm together?” Marinette did have something in mind, but she had to keep herself quiet for a few moments longer than a normal person would have to ensure what she said came out right.

 

“I was thinking we could write an essay about how Romeo and Juliet both know they shouldn’t be together and they know how terrible it could be if their relationship was discovered by their families, and yet they still go against their responsibilities and be together.” She said, tapping her fingers against her desk nervously. “But I don’t really know what the point of the essay would be, beyond making obvious points.” She glanced at Adrien to grasp at his reaction. 

“Yeah, that sounds good to me.” He said smiling comfortingly at Marinette. “Maybe we could...” He paused, thinking. “Maybe we could make the point of the essay that Romeo and Juliet are far too young to be getting like secretly married, and how the fact that Romeo is Juliet’s first love, and Romeo is coming back from heartbreak affected their decisions and ultimately their deaths.” He added on.

“I like that. So what scene should we do?” She asked, finding herself relaxing the more the two talked. Adrien opened his book and flipped through a few pages, humming.

“We should do a scene that ties in with the speed that they escalated their relationship.” Adrien said, skimming over pages. “Like maybe... act 2 scene 6? It’s the scene before they get married off stage.” He stopped at the start of scene 6, tapping his finger against the page. “It shows how hastily they get married, and how they know it needs to be kept secret.” He glanced to Marinette for approval. 

“I like that.” She smiled. “Um, so who would play who? There are 3 characters in this scene.” She couldn’t bring herself to suggest she play Juliet and he play Romeo, but she also didn’t want to suggest he play Friar Lawrence and they get someone else to play Romeo, as that would just be shooting herself in the foot.

“I think you should be Juliet, and I guess I could be Romeo.” He glanced through the scene. Marinette nearly exploded. The idea of her pretending to be Juliet and him being Romeo in front of their class almost sent her into overdrive. “It would make the most sense, I mean, if we’re acting out the scene then we should be the main characters, right?” He nodded his head to himself. Marinette chose to ignore the logical explanation and instead attached herself to the fact that he opted for the pair to play Romeo and Juliet. “We could always ask Nino or Alya to play Friar Lawrence, I’m sure one of them would be more than happy to.”

Marinette could attest to the idea that Alya would be plenty happy to play the marriage officiant in their fake wedding. “Yeah, that sounds good.” She managed to get out without letting her voice crack or raise. Giving herself a mental pat on the back for keeping herself together, she clasped her hands, preparing her next statement. “Should we start practicing the scene or working on the essay?” She asked. 

“Hm. Let’s try doing a run through of the scene first without any of Friar Lawrence’s lines.” Adrien said, grabbing his book. “Do you have your copy?” 

“Yeah, it’s just in my bag downstairs.” She said, standing up. “I’ll be right back, I can grab some snacks while I’m in my kitchen if you’d like.” She walked over to the hatch and pulled it open.

“I’d like that.” Adrien said, smiling at Marinette before turning to his book, reading through the scene. Marinette had to stop herself from idling and admiring Adrien from across the room. She slipped down the stairs and over to her living room, where she had absently dropped her bag earlier. She fished out her book and moved to the kitchen. Pulling out a plate, she glanced out the window and froze. On the street below her, she saw people turned various colours. They all were running, letting out screams that Marinette couldn’t hear. She put the plate and book down on the counter and moved closer to her window, seeing a normal coloured woman be hit by a paintball, stunned still as she turned green. 

She began to panic a little, knowing this had to be the work of an Akuma. Tikki popped out of Marinette’s jacket and flew to her side, looking out the window as well. Marinette’s mind instantly went to Adrien, trying to figure out what she would do to escape as Ladybug without alerting him. “Marinette, you have to do something fast.” Tikki said, glancing upstairs. Marinette nodded her head and rushed up stairs, Tikki diving back into her jacket.

“Adrien.” Marinette said, only half inside her room. Adrien glanced up from his book and lost his smile as he took in Marinette’s panicked expression. “I think there’s an Akuma attack happening, so I’m going to check with my parents and make sure all the doors and windows are locked downstairs, okay?” 

“Alright, be safe.” Adrien said, not putting up any sort of an argument. He was happy for an excuse to transform unnoticed. Marinette nodded her head and dropped her head out of her room, closing the hatch behind her. Adrien quickly stood up, Plagg lazily floating from inside his jacket. “Plagg, claws out!” Adrien said quietly in case Marinette was still in earshot. Plagg shot into Adrien’s ring, emitting a bright green light as Adrien transformed. He glanced around the room, remembering the hatch leading to the roof. He climbed up and pushed it open, taking in a breath of fresh air. He took in the scene on the street below, people were neon toned, fleeing from an enemy he couldn’t yet see. 

He jumped down to the street, finally able to see the villain attacking the citizens. “Don’t run from me! I’m only making you brighter! More colourful! Don’t be so boring!” A Woman called out, running after the victims. She had paint splotches all over, coating her in more colours than Adrien had ever seen before. She held a Paintball gun in one hand and a palette in the other. 

“This is hardly fair, you must know cats are colour blind, right?” Chat Noir said, rushing to the villain. He extended his staff, trying to knock the weapon out of her hand. The woman only laughed, taking yellow paint from the palette and loading it into the gun. 

“Then it’s a shame you can’t see my beautiful colours!” She called out, pointing the gun to Chat Noir. She pulled the trigger just as Ladybug’s yoyo came crashing down against her head, causing her to miss Chat Noir by a mile. 

“My saviour.” He said, smiling at Ladybug. 

“Chat, I think the Akuma is in her Palette.” Ladybug said running to the woman’s back. Chat Noir nodded his head and rushed at her front as she pointed the gun at him once more. She pulled the trigger, but Chat Noir jumped, missing it by barely an inch. 

“If I can’t hit you, then maybe I can hit-” The woman quickly spun to Ladybug, pointing the gun at her. “You!” She pulled the trigger, hitting Ladybug at close range. Ladybug was stunned, her entire body changing to various shades of yellow. She rubbed at her eyes, still seemingly stunned. 

“Everything is yellow.” She muttered out, the shift in colour appearing to consume her mind. It was all she could think about. Was the world meant to look this way? Were things always this yellow? The villain looked pleased, too distracted to notice Chat Noir running at her.

“Cataclysm!” He called out, diving for her palette. She recoiled a second too late, Chat Noir’s hand making contact with the palette. It crumbled in her hands, the Akuma fluttering out of it. “Ladybug! Snap out of it!” He yelled, getting Ladybug’s attention. She was blinking rapidly, hearing Chat Noir call out her name snapped her back into the situation, the adrenaline giving her the strength to throw her yoyo into the air, capturing the akuma.

“Bye bye, little butterfly.” She said releasing a white butterfly. She continued to blink over and over again, keeping herself focused on anything but yellow before calling out “Miraculous Ladybug!” she tossed her yoyo in the air in place of her lucky charm, sending out a light that returned herself and the rest of the citizens to their regular colours. The woman fell to the ground weakly, turned back to a middle aged artist. Chat noir walked up beside his Lady, his fist extended.

“Pound it.” The two said in unison, looking down to the woman. 

“I’m sorry, Chat, but I have to go.” Ladybug said, already pulling back. For once, Chat didn’t argue or protest. 

“I do too.” He said, also walking away. Ladybug paused, looking back sceptically at him.

“Do you mind sticking around for a minute or so and making sure she’s okay? Please?” Ladybug said, continuing to back away. Chat Noir sighed, knowing he wouldn’t be able to say no to her.

“Alright.” He said, turning to the woman sitting before him. 

“Thank you! I owe you one.” Ladybug called out, swinging away. She looped around a building, dropping behind a car in front of her family’s bakery. “Spots off.” She said, returning to Marinette. She pushed open the doors to the bakery, her parents looking alarmed before her. 

“Marinette!” Tom said, Sabine at his side. “When you ran out straight into that attack we were worried! What were you thinking!” Marinette paused, trying to come up with an excuse as to why earlier she wordlessly ran past her parents and into danger. 

“I thought I saw Alya, I was worried about her.” Marinette lied, passing her parents. “But I was wrong. It wasn’t her.” She rushed into her home, speeding up the stairs as fast as she could. The longer it took her to return to Adrien, the more suspicious it would be. She pushed open her front door and quickly popped into her kitchen, grabbing her book. She turned to the stairs leading to her room, nearly sprinting up. She nudged open the hatch and popped her head in just in time to see Adrien dropping down from the hatch on her roof, onto her bed. The two made eye contact, both surprised. “Adrien? What were you doing up there?” Marinette asked, fully entering her room. Adrien looked like he was at a loss for words as he crawled over to the ladder and climbed down. 

“I... Uh... I wanted to get a better look at the fight outside, you know, from the roof.” He said after an uncomfortably long silence. He could easily see the doubt written across Marinette’s face, but he knew she was too nice to question him. 

“Oh. Okay.” Marinette said, turning back to her desk. She walked over sitting down, Adrien following a short time after. 

“So... Back to the scene.” She said, opening her book. 

“Yeah. Let’s do this.” Adrien said, completely forgetting about the snacks Marinette earlier promised.


	8. Eight

Marinette sat down on the bench in her room, mind racing. Adrien had just left after running through the scene a few times. The two had decided to meet after school in a few days to get started on the essay. Tikki floated down from above, stopping in front of Marinette. “What’s wrong?” She asked, tilting her head. 

"I don’t remember seeing Adrien on my roof when I was fighting.” She paused. “But, also I wasn’t exactly looking overly closely at my balcony.” Tikki made a humming noise and sat down beside Marinette. 

“Do you not trust Adrien?” She asked, looking up at Marinette. 

“No, no, it’s not that I don’t trust him, I do trust him, but...” Marinette trailed off. “It just dosen’t make sense, is all. He came down from my roof long after the battle was over. There was enough time for me to detransform, talk to my parents, and get all the way back up here before he came back inside.” 

“Well what do you think he was doing?” Tikki frowned, knowing more than she let on. 

“I don’t know. Chat Noir was probably done talking to the Akuma victim by the time Adrien was back inside, Chat had probably already left, so it’s not like he could have been watching them talk from above.” Marinette ran her hands over her face. “Maybe I’m over thinking it. It’s not like he could have really been doing anything up there.” 

“I guess that’s true...” Tikki said. Marinette came to the conclusion that it was nothing to worry herself about as she stood up from the bench. “Are you going to put your photos back up?” 

“No, I’m going to wait until after Adrien and I are done this project. I don’t want to have to rush around afterschool every time Adrien comes over.” She glanced around her room, noticing how empty the walls looked. “But they’ll go back up soon enough.” She turned to face Tikki, smiling. “Did you see how well I kept myself together? I barely stuttered!” She beamed, radiating happiness.

“You did a good job, Marinette. Try to keep it up.” Tikki encouraged, slowly fluttering up. “Do you ever wonder how old Chat Noir is?” Tikki asked, looking at Marinette skeptically.

“Hmm... I don’t know.” Marinette tapped her jaw. “Why?” 

“I’m just... Curious as to what you think.” Tikki said, treading carefully. 

“I mean, he kind of acts pretty young. So I guess it wouldn’t surprise me if he was around my age...” She trailed off. “And also, it would be kind of weird for him to be flirting with me so much if he was older than me. Not that he would know how old I am.” Marinette squinted at Tikki, trying to figure out why she brought that up out of nowhere. Tikki kept her face stoic, not giving Marinette any clues. Marinette shook her head, moving on. She stepped over to her desk and pulled open her math textbook, starting on her homework before dinner. 

\--------------------------------------

“God, that could have gone a lot worse.” Adrien said, finally alone (to an extent) in his room. He dropped down onto his couch. 

“I agree, but I thought your performance as Romeo could have been a lot better.” Plagg said, hovering out of Adrien’s jacket. Adrien shot Plagg a look before sighing. 

“No, I mean when Marinette walked in on me dropping from the roof.” Adrien ran his hand though his hair. “If she had asked at all why I went up to watch the fight in the first place, when that’s dangerous and I could have just watched from her window, or if she asked why I came back down so long after the fight.” His mind ran through every worst case scenario he could come up with.

“I don’t know why you’re stressing out about something that didn’t happen. She didn’t press you on it.” Plagg said, diving into Adrien’s laundry basket. Adrien frowned at the vibrating basket, mildly disgusted. 

“It’s just... risky. If something like that happened again and it wasn’t around someone like Marinette, it could end so much worse.” He anxiously tapped his hand against his leg. “And it’s not out of the question that she could think about it and ask me later.” His words were coming out faster than usual, a result of his near panicked state. 

“You’re over thinking it.” Plagg said, resurfacing with an unwashed sock. “Just stick to your story about watching the fight, and if she asks why you were up there for so long after the fight, then say you were enjoying the scenery.”He sniffed at the sock before tossing it aside, diving back into the basket. “What if you just let her know you’re Chat Noir?” his voice was muffled by the layers of clothes.

“Ladybug doesn’t even know who I am. How could I let Marinette know before Ladybug? And what good would telling her do?” Adrien squinted at the basket.  
Plagg’s head popped through the clothes. “It’s a solution to your endless stressing.” He pulled the sock over his head. 

“That’s disgusting.” Adrien said, wrinkling his nose. 

“You know what would stop this.” Plagg said through the sock.

“I asked for a slice of Camembert with my dinner. You’ll have to wait until then.” Adrien rolled his eyes slightly, turning to his TV. He grabbed the remote and turned the TV on, switching it to the news. He used the usual recap of the latest Akuma attack as background noise to his thoughts. Plagg’s suggestion to reveal his identity to Marinette slowly began to seem like less of a bad idea in general. It didn’t necessarily have to be Marinette who knew, it could be Nino, but the concept of having someone in his class who could bail him out and be an alibi for him during Akuma attacks was alluring to say the least. As long as it was someone trust worthy... it might not be the worst idea. 

But at the same time, if even his super heroine partner didn’t know his identity, maybe it wasn’t a good idea to have a civilian know. How could he even consider letting Nino or Marinette know before Ladybug ever found out? The idea suddenly became ridiculous in his mind and he felt his mind drifting away from his secret identity, and to another’s identity. He clicked the TV off as Ms. Chamack wrapped up the news segment, passing it off to the weather man. Adrien stood up and sat down at his desk, turning his computer on. He quickly navigated to the Ladyblog, eager to see if Alya had posted anything new that he could dig through.


	9. Nine

“Hey, Nino, Alya. Marinette and I are doing act 2, scene 6, and we need someone to be Friar Lawrence.” Adrien said, turning in his seat to face Nino and Alya. Their class was filled with idle chatter, waiting for their teacher to arrive. Nino and Alya glanced at each other. 

“Yeah that’s fine.” Alya said, nodding her head. “We needed one of you two to be Lady Capulet in our scene anyways.” 

“Do you care which one of us plays Friar Lawrence?” Nino asked, looking up at Marinette. 

“No. It can be either of you.” Marinette said. She secretly hoped Alya wouldn’t realize it was the pre-wedding scene, because if she did-

“Act 2, scene 6?” Alya said, pulling out her copy of Romeo and Juliet. She flipped through, landing on a page. “If you need a Friar Lawrence, that means you two are Romeo and Juliet, right?” Alya looked to Marinette for confirmation. “That’s the scene before they get married.” She smirked down at the page before looking at Nino, who was looking up at her. The two shared an unspoken conversation, nodding their heads at each other. “I’d be happy to play Friar Lawrence.” Alya smiled, looking straight at Adrien. 

“Thanks, Alya.” Adrien smiled back, not seeing her intentions. “You said you needed one of us to be Lady Capulet, right?” 

“Yeah, it’s for Act 3 Scene 4. She only has one line, and pretty much stands around for the rest of it while Paris and Capulet talk.” She flipped to Act 3, Scene 4 and held the book down to Adrien for him to read over. “I’m playing Capulet, and Nino is Paris. Do either of you desperately want to play Lady Capulet?” She looked at Marinette, Adrien still reading through the scene. 

“If it’s only one line, then I guess I wouldn’t mind.” Marinette said, looking at Adrien. “But it’s fine if you want to, Adrien!” 

“Oh, no, I think you would make a better Lady Capulet than yours truly.” Adrien finished reading through the page as Alya pulled the book up. Marinette blushed at the simple comment, which wasn’t even really much of a compliment. “Do you think it would be a good idea for you to practice the scene with us, Alya?”

“No, I think I’ll be fine reading through the scene a few times on my own. You two are the stars of the show for your scene, so you two should just practice alone.” Alya said, only holding eye contact with Marinette. 

“Since it’s only one line, you probably don’t need me to be there when you both practise as well, right?” Marinette said, choosing to ignore Alya’s implications. 

“Yeah, I’m sure we’ll be fine.” Nino said, watching the door. “Man, what’s taking Mlle. Bustier so long?” Alya unsurprisingly leaned forward over her desk to talk one on one to Nino, leaving Adrien and Marinette out of it. Adrien turned to face Marinette and looked up. 

“So, I’m all booked up after school tonight, so I won’t be able to work with you.” Adrien said. 

“That’s aaaalright!” Marinette said, a little overly cheerful. She internally cursed herself, annoyed that she couldn’t even manage to keep her voice levelled. 

“But I’m free tomorrow, straight from afterschool, actually. So we can get to work right away.” Adrien smiled reassuringly, pretending Marinette sounded normal. 

“Great! Great. I look forward to working! With you!” She said, growing more and more annoyed with every word she spoke. Looking into his eyes jumbled up her words and thoughts, making it hard to keep her cool. 

“Me too.” Adrien turned back to the front of the class as Mlle. Bustier rushed in. 

“I’m so sorry, everyone! The copy machine was jammed so I had to wait for it to be fixed.” She put down a stack of papers on her desk and reached up, pushing a stay hair behind her ear. Marinette barely noticed, stuck on the idea that Adrien looked forward to working with her. She gazed out of the window, absolutely enamoured.

The rest of the day went by in a blur. Most classes had little time to talk, as the year was coming to a close soon, and most teachers had a lot to jam into the last month and a bit of classes. The most interaction she had with most of her classmates throughout the day was idle chatter in between classes, and the occasional knowing wink from Alya (Although admittedly Marinette wasn’t sure what she knew). It was a wholly uneventful day, but Marinette wasn’t going to complain about the break from Akuma attacks.

Usually, there would be one a day at most, and very rarely a second. However, for the past few weeks, there had been at least one a day, typically two. Marinette was growing exhausted, and she could tell Tikki was as well. The usually chipper kwami had become a little less energetic at times, the frequent transformations were clearly taking a toll on her. Marinette worried about it whenever she would transform, but she couldn’t think of anything to do. She wanted Tikki to feel good, but at the same time she couldn’t leave Chat Noir alone to battle with Akumas. Marinette found herself wondering if Chat Noir’s kwami was suffering similar effects. 

Marinette and Alya left the school together, parting ways when Alya met up with Nino to head off and work together. Marinette caught a glimpse of Adrien as he slid into his Bodyguard’s car, driving off to wherever his schedule demanded. She made her way back to her home, slipping past her parents as they dealt with customers in the bakery. She dropped her bag onto the floor once in her room before pulling out her sketchbook. 

“What are you working on?” Tikki asked, popping out of Marinette’s purse. 

“I need to start sewing my dress together for the dance, seeing as I’m almost completely free tonight, asides from my homework.” Marinette opened the book, flipping through it. 

“Which dress did you decide on?” Tikki sat down on the desk in front of the sketchbook as Marinette took a seat on her chair. The pages fell flat as Marinette tapped one.

“The red one. I should have plenty of time to get it done.” She looked through her fabric selection, pulling out a red that matched the colour on the page. “I’ve finished dresses with less time.” She said, nodding her head as she reached for scissors. 

"Are you thinking of going with anyone...?” Tikki inquired, looking over the design again. 

“No, I’m going to be third wheeling with Alya and Nino, probably.” Marinette said, cutting off a section of the fabric. “I could never work up the courage to ask Adrien to the dance. I couldn’t even get through a conversation with him about school work without my voice going up an octave today.” She frowned, letting the fabric fall over her desk. “And to think I was doing so well yesterday!” She groaned, majorly disappointed in herself. 

“Just do your best when he comes over tomorrow. I’m sure you’ll do well then too.” Tikki said with an encouraging smile. Marinette only shook her head, getting to work on her dress. 

“Hey, Tikki? Can I ask you something?” Marinette asked, pulling out a measuring tape. 

“What is it?” Tikki fluttered over, resting on Marinette’s shoulder.

“Has transforming so much lately been hard on you?” Marinette quickly measured her bust, hips, and height, making sure it was all the same as last time. 

“Maybe just a little...” Tikki trailed off. “But I don’t want you to worry about me.” Marinette only sighed in response, checking her mannequin’s adjustable sizes. “You have bigger things to worry about. I can handle myself.”

“Do you think Chat Noir’s kwami is feeling the same?” Marinette walked back to her desk, taking out paper to make her dress pattern with. 

"Well, I can’t speak for him, but its likely yes.” Tikki stretched, lounging. “The food I eat after transformation can only do so much.” 

“So what would happen if you got too tired?” Marinette began sketching outlines on the paper. 

“Well your transformation could end more suddenly and sooner after you use your lucky charm, more suddenly. And if it got really bad, then your transformation might end suddenly before you even use your charm.” Tikki frowned. “But it’s not that bad right now. Don’t worry yourself about it.” 

“If you say so.” Marinette said, clearly doubtful. She took her scissors and cut along the lines she had drawn. Tikki paused, thinking of a way to get Marinette off the topic. 

“Do you think you’ll have trouble talking to Adrien tomorrow?” Tikki asked, dropping from Marinette’s shoulder to the desk. 

“I hope not. I wish it was easier to talk to him.” Marinette furrowed her brow as she started drawing a new line. 

“Why don’t you try thinking of him in another way?” Tikki suggested.

“What do you mean?” Marinette asked, matching the first paper she cut out to the one she had drawn on.

“You’re confident talking to Chat Noir. Why don’t you talk to him like he’s Chat?” Tikki tilted her head. 

“What? I could never. Adrien is Adrien! He’s amazing, and Chat Noir is... Something else.” Marinette shook her head, verging on laughing. “How could I ever treat them the same?” Tikki squinted at Marinette, almost impressed with her obviousness.


	10. Ten

Chat Noir spun his staff around rapidly in front of himself, smashing bottles being thrown his way. He glanced around, trying to spot Ladybug through the dim lighting to no avail. He dropped to the floor, letting the bottles fly past above him. He rolled to the left and jumped up, running at the akumatized bartender. Minutes earlier, after using her lucky charm and being dropped a small energy generator, Ladybug had vanished into the darkness of the club, claiming she had a plan. But Chat Noir was getting bored of dodging vodka bottles and decided to try taking matters into his own hands. The bartender stood atop the bar across the club, holding a cocktail shaker in one hand, and creating various types of alcoholic bottles out of seemingly thin air from the other. 

"I have to say, you really need to raise the bar on your attacks.” Chat Noir readied his staff, aiming for the shaker. The bartender clicked his tongue, shaking the shaker as Chat Noir approached. He popped the top open and pointed it to Chat Noir, letting an icy blue fluid splash towards him. Chat Noir nearly dodged it, the liquid hitting against one arm. Chat Noir smirked, continuing to run before coming to a halt, feeling his arm freeze over. The bartender laughed, beginning to shake the shaker again. Chat Noir wasn’t sure what to do. He couldn’t use Cataclysm, that arm was frozen over, and he knew Ladybug’s time was running out.

Suddenly, multicoloured lights came on in full force, pointing at the bar. They went off and on, flicking on and off and blinding the Bartender. Chat Noir turned to face the light source, seeing Ladybug hanging with her yoyo from the rafters by the lights. “Chat Noir!” She called out, nodding her head to the stunned bartender’s shaker as she descended. Chat Noir prepped his staff, ignoring his frozen arm as he ran towards the Bartender, using his extended staff knocking the shaker out of the Bartender’s hands. Ladybug used her yoyo to swing towards it, dropping down on top of it, crushing it below her feet. The Akuma fluttered out, trying to escape from Ladybug’s yoyo to no avail. 

She cleansed it, letting the white butterfly fly out, trying to find an exit. “Miraculous Ladybug!” She said, throwing her yoyo above. 

“Say, Bugaboo. I hardly thought my first time in a club would be at 1 pm on a Wednesday.” Chat Noir said, strolling over to Ladybug. 

“Me neither, Kitty.” Ladybug glanced over to the now regular bartender, sitting dazed on the bar counter. She opened her mouth to speak, but was cut off by her final warning from her earrings. She sighed. 

“That’s... That’s quicker than usual.” Chat Noir said, surprised. “It hasn’t been that long.” 

“I know, I have to go, but I’ll explain it to you next time I see you, okay?” Ladybug said, tapping Chat’s bell as she passed by him. “Make sure the Bartender is okay!” She called out behind her, pushing open the club doors and briefly letting daylight in before the doors swung shut behind her. Chat Noir looked over to the Bartender and walked over. 

“Hey, you good?” He asked, leaning over the bar counter. The Bartender looked up, confused. 

“Um, yeah. I think so.” He rubbed his head. “What happened?” 

“You were akumatized.” Chat Noir said, glancing at a clock behind the bar. He had already been missing from class for an abnormal amount of time, having rushed off to the club in the middle of lunch. The longer he was gone, the less believable being held up at home during lunch would be. “Try to stay calm, okay?” He said, standing up straight before turning around, rushing out of the door.   
\-------------------------------------------

“Hey.” Adrien smiled at Marinette, stepping past her into her house. “I wrote a few rough paragraphs to use as a base, if you want.” 

“Sure!” Marinette said, nodding her head. “We can work in my room again.” Marinette said, walking over to the staircase. The two entered her room, pulling up chairs to Marinette’s desk. Adrien pulled out a binder, resting it on the desk. “I don’t... um. I didn’t really write any rough paragraphs, but I have some ideas for the formatting.” Marinette nudged her computer awake, typing in her password. Adrien pulled out a paper from his binder, writing scribbled over it. 

As Marinette prepared her computer, Adrien took a look around Marinette’s desk. He took note of some scrap fabric around her desk before turning to glance at her mannequin. It had a semi finished knee length red skirt wrapped around the waist, pins holding it together. “Is that your dress for the dance?” Adrien asked, still looking at it. Marinette spun around in her seat.

“Y-yeah. It is.” Marinette said. “But it’s not finished.” She rushed out. “Obviously.” she groaned under her breath, dragging her hand down her face. Adrien considered the dress before speaking.

“It looks pretty so far. I think that colour will look great on you.” He said, turning back to face Marinette who was on the verge of imploding. She was nearly vibrating with excitement, not that Adrien noticed. Marinette turned back to her computer screen and opened Microsoft Word, waiting for it to load. Adrien took another look around her desk, this time noticing a small necklace. He reached out and picked it up, examining it. A red charm that looked similar to half of the yin yang symbol was supported by a black rope. 

“Oh!” Marinette said, noticing Adrien holding her necklace. 

“This is really pretty. Where did you get it?” Adrien asked, flipping it over in his hand. 

“It was a gift.” Marinette said, cursing herself for forgetting to put Tikki’s gift away before Adrien came over. She wasn’t sure how she was going to explain who gave her that if Adrien asked, but to her relief, he didn’t.

“Hm. It reminds me of someone.” Adrien said, putting it back down. Marinette glanced at her computer to see word almost fully loaded. She stared vacantly at the screen, doing everything not to look at the model beside her. She couldn’t help but wonder who the necklace reminded Adrien of. She deeply hoped it wasn’t Ladybug, because she didn’t need anyone associating Ladybug with her, even if it was Adrien. Once word loaded, she turned to Adrien. 

“So! Let’s see what you have.” Marinette smiled, leaning over to look at Adrien’s paper. She read over the paper, trying not to notice how Adrien leaned in beside her. “This is good. We can use this as a good start for the intro.” Marinette nodded her head, pulling back. She pulled out her keyboard and began typing out Adrien’s work.

“Do you remember how many pages this is supposed to be?” Adrien asked, watching Marinette type. 

“I think the outline said 3 pages.” Marinette said, glancing down to the paper before continuing to type.

“So if we managed to get a page and a bit done every time we work together, and spend an extra day for editing and practicing the scene, then we should be able to finish it in 3 or 4 more meetings.” Adrien said, resting his head on his hand. Marinette was more than happy for 3 or 4 more excuses to hang out with Adrien after school, so she wasn’t going to argue that they could easily get it done in 2 or 3 more meetings. 

“Sounds good!” Marinette said, finishing off the last of Adrien’s paragraphs. “So I guess we should get started on the first point.” She turned in her chair to face Adrien.

Adrien reached into his bag and pulled out his copy of Romeo and Juliet. “The best place to start would be reading through relevant scenes with Romeo and Juliet in them, specifically the ones around where they first meet, and the ones before they die.” Adrien flipped through the book, landing somewhere near the start. Marinette nodded her head, and the two teens got to work. 

\---------------------------  
Adrien relaxed in his room, clicking his tv on after getting home from Marinette’s place. Plagg hovered down beside Adrien, swallowing a chunk of camembert whole. “What’s on your mind?” Plagg said.

“Ladybug said that was her first time in a club.” Adrien said, staring at the tv. “Which means she’s probably not over 18.” 

“Or she’s just never gone to a club.” Plagg said, playing devil’s advocate. 

“If she’s over 18 she’s probably gone to a club at least once out of curiosity, right?” Adrien leaned forward, resting his elbow on his leg and his head on his hand. “And that makes it even more believable that the history textbook was hers.” Adrien tapped his fingers against his jaw. 

“I think you’re looking too far into it.” Plagg said, lazing down beside him. Adrien shot Plagg a look. 

“And if the history textbook was hers, then she has to go to my school.” Adrien was nearly vibrating with excitement, similar to the reaction he didn’t notice on Marinette earlier. 

“What?” Plagg squinted up at Adrien. “I’m sure other schools have that textbook.” 

“Nope! I looked it up and that textbook was specifically printed for my school. Mr. Carpentier among other teachers in the history department wrote the textbook for our school. Meaning if that was hers, then she has to go to my school.” Adrien looked smugly down at Plagg. 

“You’re acting like you know for sure it was her textbook. It still could have been someone else’s.” Plagg said, knowing full well that Ladybug did attend his school. Little did Adrien know, Plagg was intentionally making this difficult for Adrien. He could see some of the rational that Ladybug had over keeping their identity secret, but at the same time he did want to see Adrien happy. So instead of directly helping or stopping him, Plagg landed on a conflicting, devil’s advocate role.

“I just think it’s likely, Plagg.” Adrien sighed, turning his focus back to the TV. “The most I can do is hope that it is her textbook. Because maybe I already know her.” Adrien frowned at the TV. “I would feel really stupid if I’ve been passing her by in the halls every day.” Plagg rolled his eyes. Adrien did much more than pass by Ladybug’s secret identity on the daily.


	11. Eleven

Marinette jogged around the courtyard, Alya trailing beside her. “Girl, I don’t know how you can run for so long.” Alya panted, clearly tired. Marinette frowned, already having slowed herself down for Alya’s sake. She had learned that running and leaping from buildings for a long time now had built up her stamina and speed. Despite the fact that the suit gave her super human abilities that vanished when out of costume, her increase in stamina and speed had more or less transferred over. 

Nino jogged up beside Alya, also out of breath. “Hey dudes.” He said, nodding his head to Alya and Marinette. Marinette glanced ahead, noticing Adrien running far ahead, much faster than everyone else, even the athletic kids. 

“Adrien won’t slow down for you?” Alya asked between breaths. 

“Yeah, he said it bugs him to run so slow.” Nino rolled his eyes. 

“That boy is fast.” Alya said, her eyes trailing after him. Adrien passed the trio, lapping them. “You’re slowing yourself down, right, Marinette?” 

“A little bit...” Marinette lied. She was running at maybe half her max speed. 

“Maybe you could run at his speed? Give him a rival instead of running past all us snails.” Alya suggested, smiling at Marinette.

“I couldn’t run that fast.” Marinette lied again. “I’m not holding myself back that much.” 

“If you say so.” Alya said in a singsong voice, looking to Marinette. Her brow furrowed, staring at Marinette’s ears. “Don’t you worry about something getting caught on your earrings? You never take them off.” 

Marinette’s hands instinctively shot up, covering her earrings. “These? They’re...” Marinette scrambled for a reason to always have her earrings on, even when other girls take theirs off. “They’re flat to my ears. Nothing can get caught on them.” She smiled nervously, waving Alya off. 

“Hm, I guess so.” Alya said, frowning. “But-” 

“Maybe I will try catching up to Adrien!” Marinette said, worming her way out of Alya’s questioning. She started to speed up, taking what felt like a jog to a run. 

“Have fun~!” Alya called out after Marinette, staying at the same pace with Nino. Marinette kept herself at a pace that ensured she would stay ahead of Nino and Alya, but still slower than Adrien. Speaking of Adrien... He had vanished from Marinette’s sights, no longer in front of her.

“Hey, Marinette.” Adrien said, appearing behind Marinette. He slowed down his pace to match Marinette’s. “You’re pretty fast.” He smiled, causing Marinette’s heart to melt. 

“Th-thanks!” Marinette stuttered, entirely unprepared to talk to Adrien. “But I’m not that fast.” 

“I can tell you’re not running as fast as you could be.” Adrien nudged her with his elbow, teasing her. “We should race.” 

“Us? Race?” Marinette’s voice went up. “I- I mean, we could, but I’m sure you would win!” She said, having immense amounts of trouble saying no to Adrien. 

“I don’t know about that.” Adrien said, shaking his head. “If we race, will you run as fast as you can?” He asked, turning his head to look at Marinette as the two ran. Marinette looked up into his eyes, desperately wanting to say no so that no one asks why she’s so fast all of the sudden, but at the same time, Adrien wants to race with her. How could she ever say no to him?

“Alright.” She managed to get out. Adrien smiled, clearly excited. 

“Okay, on the count of 3, we’ll see who can lap Nino and Alya 3 times first.” Adrien glanced down at Marinette and smiled. “One... Two... Three!” He said, taking off at top speed. Marinette reacted at the same time, running at a similar speed to him. Despite the two running as fast as they could, they were evenly matched. They were neck and neck, only occasionally would one or the other pull ahead before falling back to the same pace. They lapped the designated 3 times, ending with a draw. 

“I was right, you are fast.” Adrien said, smiling as the two slowed down a little bit, finally out of breath. 

“Thanks.” Marinette smiled, regaining her breath. The gym teacher blew her whistle, bringing everyone to a halt. 

“Alright, everyone!” She called out, waving everyone’s attention to her. “Good warm up. Feel free to get a sip of water before we decide on teams for basketball.” She turned around, sorting through a box of pinnies as the students behind her milled around, some walking over to get water from the fountain against the wall. Alya and Nino walked up to Marinette and Adrien. 

“Looks like we have a pair of track stars over here.” Alya said, lightly punching Marinette’s shoulder. “Where did you get so fast?” 

“I- uh...” Marinette began sweating more than she had from running. She had no excuse. Alya was under the impression that the only time Marinette ran was during gym class and when she was late for school. Her mind was blank, saying anything except ‘I’m Ladybug!’ was surprisingly difficult. 

“Yo, you too, Adrien.” Nino said, looking at Adrien. 

“What?” Adrien said, suddenly also sweating. 

“You’ve gotten so much faster recently. There’s no way running is a key part of modelling.” Nino said, frowning. 

Adrien was silent, staring blankly at Nino. “I’ve always been this fast!” Marinette suddenly burst out, saving Adrien from his silent hell. “Yeah. I’ve just been keeping myself slow all this time to run with you, Alya.” 

"And I need to keep fit to be a model.” Adrien said, excuses finally coming to mind. “There’s a treadmill in my house, running is a good way to keep in shape for me.” 

Nino and Alya looked at each other, sharing a wordless conversation of disbelief. Marinette was eternally grateful that Adrien’s excuse sounded just as rushed out as hers did, and Adrien was relieved that Marinette’s (presumed true) excuse sounded fake. They both smiled nervously, waiting for someone to say anything. 

“Okay, everyone! Come line up so I can divide you into teams!” Their gym teacher said, breaking the silence. Alya only shook her head, grabbing onto Marinette’s arm.

“C’mon, let’s go stand in line and count out how many people need to be between us to get us on the same team.” Alya said, dragging Marinette off, leaving Nino and Adrien behind.

“We should probably also get in the line.” Adrien said, following after the girls with Nino at his side.


	12. Twelve

“Okay... It’s almost done. I just need to adjust the sleeves and hem the waistline.” Marinette said, taking in her work. Despite the fact that school had been over for well over 5 hours, she had only been home for 2 now, having fought a particularly tough Akuma. She felt wiped, but she had to work on her dress, seeing as the dance was only a few days away now. She and Adrien had met up twice since the last time, and were done the essay now. She had managed to convince Adrien that they needed to practice their scene, not wanting to lose her afterschool meetings with Adrien so quickly. 

“It looks great!” Tikki flew around the dress, taking it in from all angles. Marinette frowned, watching Tikki. She was flying slower than usual, even in comparison to the past few weeks. Tikki came to a halt, noticing Marinette’s frown. “Is everything alright, Marinette?” 

“The Akuma attacks are taking even more of a toll on you, aren’t they?” Marinette asked, concerned. The attacks hadn’t slowed down at all in the past few days. In fact, she was surprised there was only one attack earlier today. There hadn’t been a day without an attack for the last week, not since she had started on her dress. 

“Well... I’m certainly not as full of energy as usual...” Tikki said, resting on the shoulder of the mannequin. “But there’s nothing you can do about it, Marinette. You shouldn’t worry.” 

“I can’t help it, Tikki. I’m going to worry about you.” Marinette said, tapping Tikki’s head. Tikki giggled, slipping away from Marinette’s fingers. 

“I’ll be fine, I promise.” Tikki floated up, smiling. “Sure, I’m a little tired right now... But with a full nights rest I’ll be good and ready to go.” 

Marinette hummed, looking up at her roof hatch. “Do you think some fresh air might help you?” She suggested.

“I definitely wouldn’t mind it.” Tikki rested on Marinette’s shoulder. Marinette nodded her head as she climbed up to the roof hatch and pulled herself up, letting the cool night air cover the skin her pyjamas exposed. Marinette gently tapped the hatch shut with her foot, covering the light from her room. She approached the railing, letting Tikki jump down from her shoulders. Tikki closed her eyes and took in a deep breath. 

“Look at all the stars you can see tonight, it’s so clear.” Marinette said, leaning over the railing. 

“And calm, too.” Tikki smiled up at Marinette. “Thank you, Marinette. This was a good idea.” 

“It’s no problem, Tikki. I like being up here anyways.” Marinette said, taking in the city before her. Her appreciation of how calm it was when there was no Akuma to worry about was quickly cut short by a familiar black cat running across the roofs across the street from her. She glanced in the direction he was headed, glad he was too focused on running to notice her and the bright red kwami. Far in the distance, several bright flashes shot up into the sky, the stars behind it seeming to disappear. 

Tikki sat up, watching the cat pounce. “I’m sorry, Tikki.” Marinette sighed. “We should probably go check that out.”

“It’s alright, Marinette. I’ll be fine.” Tikki smiled reassuringly, and despite the guilt she felt, Marinette transformed, ducking down to try to minimize the bright pink light. She shot up and dove off her roof, using her yoyo to follow Chat Noir’s path. The closer she got, the more she could tell that the bright flashes were akin to fireworks, exploding low in the sky. She slowed down, dropping to the street. She shook her head, annoyed that this didn’t even seem to be an Akuma attack, just someone setting off fireworks far too low in a zone they shouldn’t be. She was about to swing away when a firework shot straight at her. She quickly dove out of the way and looked where it came from, seeing a very brightly coloured woman holding a firework launcher. 

“Ladybug! How kind of you to join me!” The woman cackled, readying her launcher. “Come over here! Let me get a good look at your earrings.” She began running at full speed towards Ladybug, propping the launcher on her shoulder. “Then perhaps I can model a firework show after them!” Ladybug used her yoyo to swing away, landing far down the street. “Ohh, don’t run! We were just getting started!” The woman twirled around to look at Ladybug, but instead was met face to face with Chat Noir. 

“I hardly think it’s fun to wake people up with your light pollution.” He used his staff to knock the launcher off of her shoulder while she was stunned. He quickly stabbed his staff through it, fully expecting a black butterfly to fly out. 

“If you think it’s going to be that easy then you’re sorely mistaken!” The woman said, back flipping away. “You’ll fall at the hand of Firecracker!” She pulled out a firework out of her impossibly small bag, using a lighter to ignite it. “I don’t need my launcher, you fools!” She pointed it at Chat Noir, letting it fly towards him. Chat Noir dodged it and ran back to Ladybug, stopping at her side. 

“Got a plan, Bugaboo?” He asked, watching as Firecracker lit another firework. 

“Not really, but let’s see if we can wrap this up quickly.” Ladybug said, tossing her Yoyo into the air. A bucket full of water dropped down, balanced perfectly in her hands. She struggled for a second, worried it would spill. 

“Even I can see where this is going. Where do you think the Akuma is?” Chat Noir asked, dodging a bright green firework. Ladybug paused, watching Firecracker light another. 

“I think it’s in her lighter. Can you distract her while I get onto one of the rooftops?” Ladybug asked, knowing she had little time to spare. 

“On it.” Chat Noir said, running at Firecracker and dodging her attacks. Ladybug used her yoyo to pull herself on top of a building, running low so as to stay hidden from the fight. She heard Chat Noir use cataclysm, likely to add to the distraction. She glanced over the edge, lining herself up perfectly and swung down, dropping the water over Firecracker’s head. All of her bright lights were extinguished as she screamed, watching Ladybug drop down behind her. Chat Noir reached out for her lighter, snatching it from her hands and throwing it to the ground, smashing it. 

“Gotcha!” Ladybug said, catching the Akuma as it fluttered out. She purified it and threw her lucky charm into the air as fast as she could, fixing her surroundings. “Alright, Kitty, It’s been fun, but-” She said, cut off by a beep from Chat Noir’s ring. “We both need to go.”

“Wait, M’lady!” Chat Noir reached out and grabbed Ladybug’s arm. “You said you would explain why the timer on our miraculous’ are shorter.” Ladybug glanced at his ring then back up to his pleading face. She struggled internally for a moment, knowing it was in her best interest to let Chat Noir know that their kwamis can’t handle the exertion. 

“Alright, but I need to make it quick. The amount of Akuma attacks that have been happening lately are draining my kwami, and I’m going to assume yours as well. My kwami said that if it gets too bad, our transformations could end quickly after using our powers, or even end too soon before we use them.” She said, hearing her own earring beep. “Your kwami must be even more tired than mine is, you used your cataclysm after I used my lucky charm, and yet you’re transforming back sooner.” 

“But that means it’s going to be harder to fight akumas and have time to spare if this keeps up.” Chat said, still holding onto her arm. 

“Yes, Chat, and time is of the essence. You’re so close to transforming back already-” She said, her breath hitching as his ring let out one last beep, his transformation beginning to disappear from his hands. “You need to go, fast. You’re out in the open!” Ladybug said, pulling her arm out of his grasp. “You don’t know who could be watching.” She said, turning her head away. She heard Chat Noir run away to a nearby apartment, pulling the door open. She found herself glancing over to the noise, seeing Chat Noir’s blonde hair vanish behind a door, clicking shut behind him and cutting off the green light that he emitted. She sighed, knowing her transformation was up next. She swung up to a nearby roof top as fast as she could, her own pink light starting to emit as her earring let out the last beep. 

\----------------------

“Ladybug must always have her earrings on, right?” Adrien asked, spinning his desk chair around. Plagg hovered behind him, chomping down some cheese. 

“She might.” Plagg answered, disinterested. 

“I always have my ring on. She needs to be ready at all times, so I’m going to say yes. She does.” He clicked on to the Ladyblog on his computer. “But her earrings probably don’t look the same. Not colour wise, anyways.” Adrien pulled up a close up picture of Ladybug and zoomed in on her earrings. “They could be any colour when not activated.” He glanced down at his own silver ring. “But that does help me narrow down who she could be. If I’m right, she goes to my school, is in my grade, and has to wear earrings.” 

“What class do you think she’s in?” Plagg asked, finishing off his cheese. 

“I’m not sure. There’s 5 classes at school that are the same grade as me, so it’s kind of hard to tell.” He tapped his fingers against his desk. “Maybe I can rule out my own class. That gets rid of a handful of students.”

“Why would you rule out your class?” Plagg looked genuinely surprised. 

“Well I think if she’s in my class I would have been able to figure it out by now.” Adrien frowned at Plagg. “Or at least I hope I’m not that blind.” 

“Whatever you say, Lover boy.” Plagg shook his head, floating away else where in Adrien’s room. He was actually impressed with Adrien’s ability to make this more difficult for himself. Adrien scrolled through the Ladyblog, noticing that Alya hadn’t posted a recap of the fight he had just finished. He clicked around, looking at photos of Ladybug, specifically her earrings. He memorized their shape and imagined what colour they might be on her civilian form. Maybe they were blue, or pink, or yellow. He had no way of knowing, but he definitely was ready to speculate.


	13. Thirteen

“ _...Good even to my ghostly confessor._ ” Marinette spoke softly, holding her book up. She glanced up to Adrien. “Pause for Friar Lawrence’s line...” Adrien nodded his head at her words and looked down at his own book. “ _As much to him, else is his thanks too much_.” 

“ _Ah, Juliet, if the measure of thy joy Be heaped like mine, and that thy skill be more To blazon it, then sweeten with thy breath This neighbour air, and let rich music’s tongue Unfold the imagined happiness that both Receive in either by this dear encounter._ ” Adrien recited, pausing at just the right times. Marinette listened intently, not letting a single one of his words slip past her. 

Marinette cleared her throat, making sure her words were clear. “ _Conceit, more rich in matter than in words, Brags of his substance, not of ornament. They are but beggars that can count their worth. But my true love is grown to such excess I cannot sum up sum of half my wealth._ ” She managed to get out without a problem. 

“And Friar Lawrence’s last line.” Adrien looked up from his book, smiling. “We’re going to do great, Marinette.” 

Marinette’s heart swelled, taking in the smile that was directed to her. “Yeah!” She said, very chipper. “So... We’re doing one last practice before we present r-right?” She mentally cursed herself for the stutter. 

“Yeah, absolutely. One more practice and we’ll nail it.” Adrien smiled, giving his vote of confidence. His eyes locked on something behind Marinette. “Are you done your dress?” He asked, returning eye contact with Marinette. 

“Oh! Yeah, I did.” She glanced behind herself, looking at her the top of her mannequin before turning back to Adrien. “Do you... Do you want to see it?” She offered.

“No, no.” Adrien said, shaking his head. “I’d rather see it for the first time on you at the dance.” He smiled, sending a warm blush over Marinette’s face. 

“O-okay.” Marinette said, barely getting a single word out. She watched as Adrien slipped his book into his bag, zipping it up. 

“Thanks for having me over, Marinette. Even though we’re just working on homework, I still have fun.” He said, nodding his head at Marinette. 

“It’s no problem!” She squeaked out, hands clasping together in front of her chest. “I can show you out.” She popped open her room’s hatch with her foot and descended down the stairs, watching as Adrien followed suit. She opened the door and held the door open for him, waving him out. She sighed, shutting the door and walking back up to her room. Tikki popped down from Marinette’s loft bed where she had been hiding out. 

“Look at you!” Tikki said, fluttering down. “You barely stuttered. I’m so proud of you, Marinette.” 

“Oh, stop it.” Marinette waved Tikki off, standing before her Mannequin. She smiled and turned to Tikki, beaming. “He said he’d rather see me in my dress.” She did everything in her power to not jump up and down. “And at the dance! Maybe... Maybe he’ll ask me to dance.” She fawned. 

“What are your plans for the dance?” Tikki asked, sitting on the mannequin’s head. 

“Alya is going to come over a little beforehand and we’re going to get ready together. Then we’re walking to school and she’s meeting up with Nino.” Marinette said, looking at the dress again. “Maybe I should make more alterations...?” She looked it up and down. 

“Do you have time to? The dance is 2 days away.” Tikki said.

“You’re probably right. I don’t want to accidently ruin it and have no time to fix it.” Marinette said, shaking her head. “I just hope it lives up to his expectations.” Marinette smiled again, unable to contain her excitement. 

“As long as you like it, it’s perfect.” Tikki added.

“Of course I like it. So now all that matters is if Adrien likes it.” Marinette tapped Tikki’s head. “How are you feeling? Your transformation wore off so fast after using my lucky charm this morning...” 

“I’m still a little tired... That Akuma, Recycler, was a tough fight. But the best we can hope for is that there won’t be another Akuma attack tonight.” Tikki smiled meekly. “Worst case scenario, you might have to transform back in the middle of a battle, and give me a cookie or something.” 

“I’ll make sure to keep a cookie in my purse at all times.” Marinette glanced over to her purse. “But... will it be a sudden transformation?” 

“No, don’t worry. Your earrings will beep and give you a warning, same as if you used your lucky charm.” Tikki reassured the worried teenage girl.

“I’m just worried I’ll transform back in a bad spot, like out in the open... or in front of Chat Noir.” She frowned, looking Tikki.

"I’ll do my best to hold on to the transformation for as long as I can until you’re in a private spot.” Tikki maintained a smile. “But you will need to be careful.” 

“I will.” Marinette nodded her head, trying to restore her confidence in herself.

\--------------------------------------

“So... a few days ago.” Adrien lounged on his bed, watching Plagg float above him. “When Ladybug talked to me about her kwami being exhausted, are you feeling that too?”

“Of course I am, but you wouldn’t be able to tell from my constant strength.” Plagg looked down at Adrien as the boy brought his leg up and down. 

“So all of my transformations ending so fast recently have been because you’re tired?” Adrien sat up.

“When you put it like that it makes me sound weak.” Plagg frowned. “But yes.”

“Is there anything I can do?” Adrien asked, hoping he would be able to do something to help his Kwami feel more alert.

“Not really.” Plagg shrugged. “We’ll just have to hope that HawkMoth stops sending out akumas in droves.” Adrien hopped off his bed and pulled out his homework from his backpack. “Your modelling responsibilities have been pretty slack recently.” Plagg commented.

“Yeah, and?” Adrien asked, sitting down at his desk.

“You’re usually so busy.” 

“It’s a bit of an off season. Even my dad’s been fairly free when it comes to actually putting out designs. But that doesn’t stop him from stowing away in his office and making designs anyways.” Adrien read over his homework. 

“Hm.” Plagg said, unsettled by the idea that despite his potential free time, Mr. Agreste still ended up locked in an empty room with no one to account for him. He ended up shrugging it off, lazing on Adrien’s couch while the teenager trudged through his schoolwork. 

“Do you think Ladybug ever wonders who I am under my mask?” Adrien wondered out loud, looking up from his homework.

“No.” Plagg replied. Adrien shot him a look and returned to his homework, sighing every now and then. 

“Would you stop that?” Plagg groaned, floating up from the couch.

“Stop what?” Adrien said innocently.

“Stop sighing so much.” Plagg hovered over to Adrien. “I’m going to guess you aren’t torn up by your homework.”

“No. I’m just thinking about Ladybug.”

“When aren’t you.” Plagg said under his breath. 

“What if her transformation runs out suddenly and I see her in her civilian form?” Adrien glanced up to his floating black companion. 

“I doubt that. That girl is as dedicated to keeping her identity secret as you are dedicated to her.” Plagg stuck out his tongue. “The only thing I’m dedicated to is cheese.” He said, patting his stomach.

“I know. But... It’s possible, right?” Adrien looked up hopefully. “although... I guess if she transformed back in a situation that I’m still Chat Noir in, it might not be the best timing. You know, with there probably being an Akuma and bystanders.” 

“It’s more for you to drop your transformation in front of her than vice versa.” Plagg commented. 

“Even if I did accidentally reveal my identity, who’s to say she would reveal hers in return?” Adrien frowned, thinking through any possible situation where he would be outed. 

“I don’t know. Who could resist revealing themselves to Adrien Agreste and his never ending charm?” Plagg teased.

“I know that was a joke, but I’ll chose to take it as a rare compliment from you.” Adrien shook his head, turning back to face his homework. “I think it would kind of suck for her to know who I am but not to know who she is, even though it wouldn’t be fair to assume she would reveal herself.” He quickly glanced at Plagg. “But I would try anyways.” 

Plagg said nothing in reply, hovering back over to the couch. He knew full well that Ladybug would more than drop her super hero persona the second she found out Chat Noir’s civilian name. Or at least he assumed she would.


	14. Fourteen

“Okay. Okay! Everything is looking good.” Marinette smiled, looking at Tikki. “We already got two Akuma attacks out of the way, the dress is done, the dance is tonight, and Alya is coming here in a few minutes.” Marinette clapped her hands together before pulling her dress off of the mannequin and sliding it onto a hanger. 

“You’re going to look lovely tonight.” Tikki said, resting on Marinette’s desk. “Where am I going to go while you’re at the dance? I don’t see anywhere to hide in your dress.” 

“Don’t worry. I have that covered.” Marinette picked up a purse with matching accent colours to her dress. “I altered an old small purse for you to hide away in.” Tikki flew over, examining the purse. “I even added cushioning for you.” 

“It looks so comfy. Thank you!” Tikki hugged Marinette’s arm. "Although... I hope you don’t mind if I sneak away for a few minutes.” 

“What for?” Marinette asked, clipping the purse shut.

“There are just a few things I would like to do while everyone at your school is busy.” Tikki smiled, giving Marinette a look that made any questions in the girl’s mind vanish. Marinette simply nodded her head and stepped over to her vanity, putting the purse down and pulling out her makeup. 

“Marinette! Alya is here!” Sabine yelled up from the main floor. 

“Okay! Send her up please!” Marinette called back in reply. Tikki shot up to Marinette’s bed as Alya popped open the hatch, stepping up while carefully holding a dress bag.

“Hey, Girl.” Alya winked, knocking the hatch shut. “Are you ready to get glammed?”

“Absolutely.” Marinette said, pulling two chairs close to her vanity. “Should we get dressed before we do our makeup, or after?” 

“Hm... Let’s put on our dresses so we can match our eye shadows to them.” Alya unzipped her dress bag, pulling hers out. “I guess I’ll get changed first.” Alya said as Marinette nodded her head, turning her back to Alya. After a few minutes, Alya spoke again. “Alright, I’m good.” Marinette turned around, taking in Alya’s golden dress. It was form fitting and ended just past her knees, a small slit making movement easier. Her shoulders were draped in a transparent golden shawl. “I’m thinking of doing a smoky eye.” Alya smoothed over her dress.

“You look gorgeous.” Marinette said, smiling. Alya walked over and ushered Marinette up, taking her place.

“Your turn!” Alya turned her back to Marinette, waiting. Marinette stepped over to her closet and pulled out her dress from its hanger. She stripped down and slipped her dress on, carefully lacing up the back. She smiled down at her work, happy with how it turned out. The whole dress was red and the skirt was past her knees, closer to her ankles in the back, but above her knees in the front, pleating a little around the waist. Her waist was cinched with a bow tied in the back, and her top had a sweetheart neckline leading to off the shoulder sleeves grazing her upper arms. 

“Okay. I’m ready.” Marinette said, waiting to gauge Alya’s reaction. Alya turned around, skimming her eyes over Marinette. 

“That fits you perfectly. It’s perfect.” Alya smiled. “Now sit down! It’s time to do our makeup!” She waved Marinette over, pulling out her own makeup from her bag. Marinette took her seat and picked up her brush before pulling the elastics from her hair. Alya looked up in shock. “You’re wearing your hair down?” 

“Yeah, I thought I might switch it up.” Marinette shrugged, brushing through her hair. 

“Oh my god. Ohhh my god!” Alya gasped. “You have to let me curl your hair. Do you have a curler here?” She looked around, trying to spot a nonexistent curling iron. 

“I think my mom has one in her bathroom...” Marinette trailed off, feeling like it might be something she would regret. Alya stood up, a glimmer in her eyes.

“Lead the way.” 

.................

“We look perfect.” Alya said, admiring their reflection. The two had spent the last hour meticulously styling their hair and applying (mostly Alya’s) eye shadow and it had paid off. Marinette lightly touched her freshly curled hair. Alya pulled out her phone and glanced at it. “We have to go, we have just enough time to get there.”

“Did Nino say if Adrien’s dad is letting him come tonight...?” Marinette asked, worried he would bail. 

“Last I heard from Nino he was getting a ride from Adrien, so I’ll go with yes.” Alya said, noticing the nervous energy Marinette was emitting. “And I don’t know if you heard, but Chloe asked Adrien to the dance.” Alya’s face was unreadable.

“What? What did he say?” Marinette nearly shrieked. 

“Don’t worry, he said he was planning on going alone.” Alya said, feeling Marinette’s relief. “But he did promise her a dance.” 

“Oh. That’s fine.” Marinette was glad that Chloe wouldn’t be clinging to Adrien’s arm the whole night. The two girls made their way downstairs, briefly stopped by Marinette’s parents for photos before walking to school. They waited outside beside the stairs, saying quick hellos to their classmates as they passed into the building. “How long do you think it’ll take them?” Marinette asked Alya, growing tired of waiting.

“I don’t know, I’ll call Nino and ask what’s up.” Alya pulled out her phone, tapping on Nino’s contact before putting it up to her ear. Marinette could hear the faint sound of it ringing, just as Adrien’s car pulled up, stopping in front of the school. Alya hung up, slipping her phone back in her pocket.

Nino popped open the back door and slid out, wearing a very dark green tux. “Yoooo Alya.” He called out, tapping two fingers against his forehead. Marinette watched with bated breath as Adrien stepped out, wearing a black well fitted tux. He looked up and made eye contact with Marinette, smiling.

“What took you two so long? We’ve been waiting forever.” Alya complained, walking to meet Nino. 

“Well you totally didn’t need the extra time to do your makeup. You look great.” Nino complimented Alya as she linked her arm with his. The pair began walking up the stairs, leaving Adrien and Marinette to follow.

“Your dress looks even better than I thought it would.” Adrien said, walking beside Marinette as they pushed open the school doors. “And I like what you did with your hair.” Marinette instinctively reached up and touched one of her curls. 

“Th-thank you!” She said, flustered. “Your... uh... tuxedo is nice.” Marinette managed to get out, feeling her face go red to match her dress. They walked into the courtyard of the school. String white lights hung around the second floor balcony, a few tables with drinks and snacks lined the edge of the concrete, and a DJ was set up across from the entrance, pumping out an upbeat song. 

“Alya, you want a drink?” Nino asked, coming to a stop.

“I’ll take one.” Alya let go of his arm, stepping back to stand beside Marinette. 

“C’mon, Adrien.” Nino said, dragging Adrien off to the drink table. Alya turned to Marinette, smug.

“Did I hear Mr. Agreste say he liked your hair and dress?” 

“Oh stop it.” Marinette waved off Alya, hiding her smile. 

“I have to say, Adrien bears a striking resemblance to Chat Noir in his black tux.” Alya commented, watching the boys shuffle through the crowd. 

“What? No way. He’s so much more attractive that Chat Noir.” Marinette scoffed. “And so much more well behaved, too.” 

“Like you would know.” Alya rolled her eyes. Marinette froze up, realizing she was acting high and mighty over a subject she wasn’t really supposed to have firsthand knowledge on. Her eyes locked on to Adrien across the room, a blonde leach holding on to his arm for dear life. She could see her mouth moving at a mile a minute, a stark contrast to Adrien’s polite-but-uncomfortable closed mouth smile. Marinette’s frozen state was interrupted by a shuffle in her purse. She glanced down, then looked back to Alya. 

“I need to go to the bathroom after waiting for them for so long, I’ll be back!” Marinette said, taking off to the bathroom. She pushed open the door and let out a relieved sigh after scanning the stalls, ensuring the room was empty. She popped open her purse and watched as Tikki flew up. 

“I’m going to go off on my own. You’ll be okay for a little bit, right?” Tikki asked.

“There’s already been two attacks, we’re fine for today.” Marinette reassured Tikki. “Go off and do whatever you’re doing. If anything happens, it won’t be hard to find me.” Tikki smiled and flew out of the door as Marinette pushed it open, speeding off fast enough to render herself barely a red blur. She shot up to the second floor’s balcony, hiding behind a rafter. If she hadn’t been listening intently, she may have missed the low greeting through the loud music.

“Tikki.” Plagg said, floating up beside Tikki. 

“Plagg. It’s been a while.” Tikki smiled. “I was hoping you would realize the opportunity to talk.”

“Great minds think alike, Tikki.” Plagg smiled slyly. 

“Can you believe how oblivious the two of them are?” Tikki sighed, watching from above as Marinette stood at Alya’s side while Nino returned with 3 drinks. She was clearly watching Adrien from afar, mild jealousy visible on her face as she took in Chloe fawning over him.

“You wouldn’t believe how much Adrien sabotages his own quest to find Ladybug’s identity.” Plagg sighed. “I do get why Marinette wants to keep her identity secret.”

“If I’m being honest, the more time passes the more I hope she’ll soon reveal herself. It’ll make it so much easier for the two of them to get away when they need to.” Tikki gazed at Plagg. “And we would get to see each other more often. It’s been so long.” 

“As much as I agree, we can’t just tell them who the other is.” Plagg squinted down at the two teens through the crowd. Adrien had been pulled into a reluctant and uncomfortable dance with Chloe. “Right?”

“It’s better in the long run if they figure it out on their own.” Tikki advised, still watching Marinette wistfully look at Adrien. Alya leaned in to talk to Nino before turning to Marinette and grabbing her arm, dragging her towards Adrien and Chloe. 

Alya said something inaudible to Chloe, causing her to shriek and let out a faintly audible “Sabrina!” as she stormed off, leaving Adrien looking grateful. Alya said something, pushed Adrien and Marinette together, then turned to Nino as he pulled her into a nearly perfect twirl. The two started dancing, leaving Adrien and Marinette to stand close idly. Adrien smiled and spoke before resting his hands on Marinette’s hips, her hands eventually finding their way to his shoulders as they swayed to the music. 

“It would also solve that annoying dynamic they have going on.” Plagg groaned, watching the two awkwardly move. 

“Oh, leave them alone. It’s cute!” Tikki smiled softly. She looked around the crowd, taking in the joyful teenagers. Her gaze landed on a couple near the exit arguing with their hands. The girl shoved the boy’s chest, tears welling in her eyes. She spun away, rushing for the exit. No one around them seemed to notice, far too distracted by the music. Tikki glanced to Plagg, a worried expression painted over her face. “Do you think we should be concerned about that?”

“Nah, there’s already been 2 akumas today. Hawkmoth probably isn’t even awake anymore.” Plagg shook his head, sounding way too cocky. Tikki watched the door nervously, her fears confirmed when they burst back open. A girl with bright red glowing everything strutted in, her heels somehow louder than the music. 

“You all think you’re allowed to have fun and enjoy each others presence? Hah!” She let out a sharp laugh. “Not when I’m around! No one will enjoy your presence when HeartBreaker is done with you!” Tikki looked to Plagg, sharing a look of dread. The two shot down, following after their respective teen as the two ran off in different directions.


	15. Fifteen

"This is bad.” Marinette said, locking the bathroom door behind her as Tikki shot in. “Are you going to be okay?” She looked up, panicked. 

“Don’t worry about me right now, Marinette. We need to get out there.” Tikki kept her face unreadable as she spoke. Marinette nodded her head, gasping as she did.

“My hair.” She reached up to touch a curl. “I’m not wearing pigtails, will my hair be down after transforming?” She asked, eyes wide. 

“You look how you want to when you transform, Marinette. You just need to focus on your hair being tied up and it’ll be fine. Probably.” Tikki frowned a little bit.

“Probably?” Marinette’s voice cracked a little. 

“I’m so tired that... No. It’ll be fine. I’m sure.” Tikki shook her head. “You need to transform now!”

“Okay, okay. Spots on!” Marinette cried out as Tikki shot into her earrings. She felt the pink light envelop her, covering her body in tight spandex. She felt her hair move away from her jaw and neck and sighed in relief. She took a deep breath once fully transformed, her confidence restored. As she unlocked the bathroom door, she caught sight of herself in the mirror, freezing in place. 

Despite her transformation summoning hair ties and pigtails, it had not straightened her hair out. She practically had ringlets spilling from the elastics and ribbons, obviously different than her usual appearance. Her breath caught in her throat, her confidence draining. “This is really bad.” She bit her lip, trying to think of a solution when a crash and scream flooded through the door. She shook off the anxiety and kicked the door open, rushing out. 

“About time you jo-” Chat Noir said as Ladybug rushed to his side across the courtyard. He paused, staring at her hair. Ladybug kept her panic internal, not showing her fear. Chat Noir cleared his throat. “Joined me.”

Ladybug was eternally grateful he didn’t point it out. “Sorry for the delay, Kitty.” She smiled, turning to face Heartbreaker, who was now completely pink, several students kneeled around her, their heads facing the floor as tears streamed down. She cackled before kicking a nearby door open, stepping in. “Oh! Oh you all thought you could hide?” She said, walking in and resting her hand on the heads of the students hiding within. They dropped their heads, suddenly overcome with tears. 

Ladybug and Chat Noir nodded at each other. “Let’s get this over with asap.” Chat Noir said, tapping his ring. The two superheroes ran for the classroom, jumping over the immobile students. Chat Noir extended his staff, running up to Heartbreaker and swinging it at her legs, knocking her over. “It’s hardly fair to bring others down while you’re still standing.” He said, rushing past. 

Ladybug skimmed over Heartbreaker’s body, noticing the corsage on her wrist. She lunged, snapping it off her wrist and tearing it in half, letting the Akuma flutter out before capturing it and cleansing it. She tossed her yoyo up, returning all the students back to normal. “If I do say so myself, my Lady, we do make a great team.” Chat Noir smiled, walking confidently over to Ladybug. His eyes drifted to her hair. “And I have to say that those curls look great on you.” He winked. “Dare I say you’re all prettied up... for a dance?” He inquired, leaning on his staff.

“I-“ Ladybug began to say before being cut off by Chat Noir’s ring let out a sudden beep. 

“That’s weird.” Chat Noir brought the ring up to inspect it, his eyes going wide as he saw the green cat paw count down far faster than usual. It was already down to 3 pads left, when only 30 seconds had passed. He looked up to Ladybug, who’s eyes were equally wide. She grabbed on to his arm and pulled him out of the classroom, speeding into the next door classroom and slamming the door shut. She let go, tearing open a storage closet as Chat Noir’s miraculous let out one last beep. 

“Get in.” Ladybug said, jumping out of the way as Chat Noir dove past her, painfully aware of the windows in the classroom. Just as he was pulling the door shut behind himself, his green light revealed part of a black tuxedo. Ladybug quickly turned away, not intending to see any of his civilian form. “I’ll leave so you can get out of here without being seen. But you should wait a few minutes so no one suspects anything.” Ladybug said, her own earrings letting out a first beep. She sped out of the class and straight back into the girl’s bathroom just in time to detransform. 

Tikki fluttered out in front of her, clearly woozy. “That was certainly something.” Tikki said, shaking her head. 

“Are you okay? I have a croissant that I forgot in my locker that you can have.” Marinette offered, letting Tikki rest on her hands. 

“Yes please.” Tikki said softly. Marinette nodded her head and gently rested her kwami in her purse before stepping out into the locker room. She kept her mouth shut, knowing Tikki was in no state to hear her panicked ramblings about Chat Noir’s tuxedo. 

Back in the classroom, Adrien stepped out of the closet, holding Plagg in his hands. “Plagg?” Adrien looked down concerned.

“I’m fine.” Plagg said, weakly floating up a few inches above Adrien’s hands. “It was just nice and dark and quiet in there.” Plagg blinked. 

“Do you need to rest? You can go back in there and I can get you some cheese from the snack table.” Adrien still held his hand below Plagg just in case.

“I wouldn’t mind that...” Plagg said, hovering back into the closet. “Go on. Close the door and get me my cheese.” He settled in atop a stack of rags. Adrien closed the closet door and slipped back into the courtyard, glad the dance had already resumed. He blended into the crowd, finding his way to the snack counter. 

“Oh, that was so terrifying, Adrien!” Chloe once again latched on to Adrien’s arm. “Once I found Sabrina and yelled at her for her incompetence, I walked back inside only to see an ugly Akuma attacking everyone!” Chloe sighed dramatically and leaned her head against Adrien’s arm. “I heard you were dancing with Marinette and I thought maybe she was the Akuma! She is so horribly clumsy... and untalented... maybe she was so embarrassed by her lacking dancing skills.” Chloe rattled on while Adrien picked up a few chunks of cheese. Chloe’s mention of Marinette brought the girl back into Adrien’s mind. He wondered where she had run off to, and where she was now. He hadn’t seen her in the crowd on his way to the snack table. If he didn’t know any better he may have agreed with Chloe’s theory that she was akumatized. 

“Yeah. Mhm.” Adrien said, drowning out Chloe’s constant chatter. “Sorry, Chloe. I need to go.” He said, pulling his arm from her grasp. 

“What? What else could you be doing?” Chloe recovered from her headrest pulling away suddenly, fixing her hair and tugging at her black sequin dress. 

“I dropped something when I ran from the Akuma.” Adrien lied. Chloe’s eyes lit up.

“Oh! Sabrin- I mean, I can help you look for it.” She smiled, her eyes connecting with Sabrina who was on the other side of the snack table, fending off girls waiting to ask Adrien to dance. “What was it?” 

“It’s- uh. I dropped my phone.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “Why don’t you start looking over here and I’ll look over there?” Adrien suggested, already backing up. Another student had taken his place in front of the cheese cubes before Chloe could even reply, cutting Adrien from her field of vision. Adrien rushed through the crowd, briefly seeing Marinette slip out of the locker room through a break in people. He made his way back into the classroom and popped the locker door open, putting the cheese beside Plagg. He watched Plagg sleep for a few seconds before shutting the door. As much as he wanted to run his thoughts on why Ladybug’s hair was curled by Plagg, he knew the cat needed his sleep. 

Adrien slipped back into the dance, slamming directly into Alya. “Hey there.” She said, stepping back a little bit. 

“Alya! I’m sorry, I didn’t see you.” He apologized. He noticed that she was alone, Nino and Marinette were nowhere to be seen. “Where is everyone?”

“Nino had to go to the bathroom, and I haven’t seen Marinette since the Akuma attack.” Alya said, shaking her head. “I don’t know where that girl goes off to. And that attack was such a bummer to see all those students sobbing. But on the bright side, I got some sweet shots for the Ladyblog as I was being pushed outside by the crowd.” 

Adrien’s mind lit up. He found someone other than his pessimistic black cat to speculate over Ladybug’s hair with. “Did you get any shots of Ladybug’s hair...? I was near the end of the crowd being rushed out, and I saw how curly it was.” He asked, glad Nino wasn’t around to claim he was obsessed with Ladybug.

“Yes! I did. I’ll post them to the blog later tonight.” Alya winked. “But it’s so weird! This is the only time her hair has ever been different.” Alya tapped her jaw. 

“Do you think maybe she was at a party or an event?” Adrien asked, treading carefully.

“Maybe.” Alya shrugged. “It honestly reminded me of Marinette’s hair, but if she were to tie it up right now.” 

Adrien paused, thinking of Marinette’s hair. “Yeah... But Ladybug’s hair was in ringlets or something, and Marinette’s hair is just curly right now.” 

“That’s true. For all we know Ladybug could be in this very room!” Alya looked around at her dancing classmates as Nino approached from behind. 

“Aw, man. Adrien, did you get her going about Ladybug?” Nino asked, standing beside Alya. 

“Don’t act like you’re not interested.” Alya rolled her eyes. “I know you read the Ladyblog.”

“Because you write it.” Nino wrapped his arm around her shoulders, making Adrien feel very much like the third wheel. As if summoned by Adrien’s desire for a fourth, Marinette walked up to the group.

“Where have you been?” Alya asked, looking Marinette up and down. 

“I- uh-” Marinette stuttered, scrambling for an excuse. “I had to relax after that attack. I was hiding in a classroom.” Marinette smiled, trying to convince everyone. Alya and Nino seemed sated by her response, but Adrien eyed her suspiciously. He knew he saw her come out of the locker room, not a classroom. Marinette noticed his gaze and instantly grew warm. 

Alya looked over, smiling as she noticed the pair’s eye contact. “Adrien, your dance with Marinette was interrupted, wasn’t it?” 

“Yeah, it was.” Adrien nodded his head, finally breaking away from Marinette. 

“Well you two should totally dance again. That wasn’t even a full song earlier.” Alya clicked her tongue. “Pitiful, really.”

“I’m down if Marinette is.” Adrien said, looking back over to her. The suspicion in his eyes had faded, leaving his smile behind. 

“Me? Of course!” Marinette nodded her head a little too forcefully. Adrien stuck out his hand and Marinette grabbed onto it as he led her out onto the dance floor, weaving their way between students. The two resumed their dance from earlier, Marinette trying not to combust and Adrien swaying to the music. Marinette placed her hands on his shoulders again, her breath hitching as she took in his black tuxedo. 

“Is everything okay?” Adrien asked over the music. Marinette looked up and smiled.

“Everything is fine.” She replied, hiding her distraught thoughts. She couldn’t help but think of Chat Noir as the two danced to the music, him smiling down and her smiling up occasionally.


	16. Sixteen

“Tikki, are you awake?” Marinette asked, gently opening her purse as she closed her room trapdoor. 

“Mhm.” Tikki stirred, slowly opening her eyes. She yawned and stretched. “I feel a lot better after resting.” Marinette reached in and scooped Tikki out, resting her on a pile of fabric on the desk.

“3 akuma attacks in one day...” Marinette trailed off, pulling out her pyjamas. “If this is affecting you so badly, how do you think Hawkmoth’s kwami is feeling?” Marinette asked as she slipped off her dress. 

“Probably worse than me. Creating this many temporary superheroes is more taxing than creating so many lucky charms and so forth.” Tikki settled into the fabric as Marinette changed into her pyjamas and walked over to her vanity. “I would have already expected the amount of attacks to decrease just from exhausting Nooroo, but he really isn’t letting up...”

Marinette frowned as she sat down in front of Tikki. She thought back on the last few akumas. “I’ve noticed that the more akumas there are in one day, the easier they become to fight, like they’re weaker.” Marinette crossed her arms over her desk and rested her head. “In fact, the akumas have been getting a little bit weaker overall recently.” 

“I hope for mine and Nooroo’s sake that Hawkmoth realizes the negative effects of sending out akumas several times every day.” Tikki gazed up at the ceiling for a moment before snapping her attention back to Marinette. “Tell me about what happened at the dance while I was away.”

Marinette lit up at the suggestion, having wanted to talk about the dance for ages however not wanting to run Tikki’s ear off when she was so tired. “When you went away the first time, Alya told Chloe something that made her run off of Adrien so I was able to dance with him before the Akuma attacked.” Marinette’s smile turned to a frown. “Chloe was latched onto his arm practically any chance she got. It’s like she couldn’t see that Adrien clearly wasn’t interested!” She shook her head, forcing herself to move on from Chloe.

“You know what happened during the attack and a little bit afterwards, but when I got back out I danced with Adrien again and hung out with Alya and Nino for the rest of the night. It was really nice.” Marinette smiled softly. “But...” Her face contorted into that of trouble. “I didn’t mean to see Chat Noir as he detransformed, but I did. And he was wearing a tuxedo.” 

“And?” Tikki prompted. 

“And that means he was somewhere formal. He couldn’t have been at a club or an adult party, he himself said that the first time he had ever been to a club was when we were fighting in one.” She bit her lip. “I know that my school’s dance was the only one happening that night. I saw some kids from other schools trying and failing to sneak in.”

“So...?” Tikki continued to probe, hiding her annoyance of Marinette’s slow thought process.

“So he was wearing a black tuxedo and happened to get to the attack very quickly, while students were still being rushed outside. He was probably at the dance. He’s probably a student at my school.” Marinette’s eyes drifted off, deep in thought. “He... There were plenty of boys with a black tux on. It’s kind of hard to narrow it down.” She paused. “But I shouldn’t narrow it down. I shouldn’t know who he is.” Marinette sat up, frowning. 

“But Marinette... If he went to your school then maybe you two could help each other escape when there’s an Akuma attack.” Tikki said, trying not to show her bias. “And maybe you already know him.” 

Marinette struggled internally. Her mind was torn between the curiosity of potentially already knowing Chat Noir, and the knowledge that they shouldn’t reveal their identities. She went back and forth, weighing the pros and cons mentally before pulling out a paper and writing down a physical list. Tikki watched silently while Marinette wrote, organizing the benefits and cons. After much deliberation, erasing, and frustrated sighs, she dropped her pencil on top of the paper. She dragged her hand down her face, forgetting the makeup that lightly dusted over her skin. 

“Maybe it could be of use to know who he is.” Marinette said, staring at her paper. Tikki took a glance at the paper, noticing over twice as many points in the pros section over the cons. “But I don’t know where to start.” 

“What about your yearbook? You can use what you know about him to figure it out.” Tikki slowly flew over to a stack of books, pulling Marinette’s yearbook out. 

“He’s blonde out of costume. I saw his hair as he hid in that apartment a little while ago.” Marinette remembered, taking the book from Tikki. “So if I use the yearbook to find every blonde haired boy, then I use instagram to check for photos of them at the dance to see what they were wearing, or if they even showed up, I might be able to narrow it down to a few boys.”

“Do you know anything else about him?” Tikki asked. “Do you think his eyes might be green out of costume too?”

“It’s hard to say. My eyes are the same in and out of costume, but I doubt his entire eye is green out of costume. At most I would say it’s likely his eyes are just green.” Marinette flipped open the yearbook, turning to the student portrait section. She skimmed through it, occasionally writing down a name on her paper. Eventually, she closed the book and held up her list. “So for blond boys with any non-green eyes we have Louis Amadee, Elliot Cade, and Auguste Vital. Then for ones with green eyes we have William Nolle and... Adrien Agreste.” She hesitated to say Adrien’s name, almost seeming to not want to forsake his name with the suggestion that he could be Chat Noir.

Marinette clicked her computer to life and pulled up instagram, her feed already full of photos from the dance. “I can rule out Elliot Cade right away. I saw him in this awful baby blue suit that didn’t fit him in the slightest.” Marinette said, clicking to the instagram account belonging to Louis Amadee. She had to click onto his tagged posts to see a handful of photos from his friends of him earlier that evening. He was wearing a dress shirt and a tie with dark blue dress pants, but no jacket. She typed in Auguste Vital’s name, not seeing any photos of him from the dance. She clicked onto his tagged photos, still seeing nothing. Frustrated, she clicked onto his latest post, a photo of him at the science fair several weeks ago. The comments were filled with other students giving him well wishes to overcome the flu, the most recent one left a few hours back.

“It’s safe to assume he wasn’t there.” Tikki said, sitting on Marinette’s shoulder. 

“Yeah, I don’t think he would be in any shape to fight as Chat Noir, anyways.” Marinette scrolled through the comments, noticing the first one dating back a week prior. She clicked off and typed in William Nolle’s name. This was the first boy whose name she didn’t recognise. She had found his photo in the section of the grade below her, so she didn’t feel surprised to see that she really didn’t know who he was. She opened his profile, seeing photos of him from earlier that night. He was wearing a fitted black tux with a red tie, his arms wrapped around some other kids from his grade. Marinette studied his face before pulling up a picture of Chat Noir in a new tab.

“I noticed this in his school photo too, but he has a very pronounced jaw. Much more noticeable than Chat Noir’s.” She clicked back and forth between the photos. “But I don’t know. His mask could make his jaw look a little different.” Tikki could only stare open jawed at Marinette’s obliviousness. A mask that covers their eyes making his jaw more pronounced? How delusional was this girl? Marinette made a humming noise as she clicked out of the tab, not bothering to even look up Adrien’s name.

“You’re not going to look into Adrien?” Tikki tried not to sound too forceful. 

“Why would I? He... He couldn’t be Chat Noir. There’s no way.” Marinette shook her head, not noticing Tikki’s befuddled expression. 

“But wouldn’t it maybe be worth it to compare their pictures? He was wearing a black tux.” Tikki put her hands out in almost a pleading position. 

“I think I’m going to talk to William Nolle in person at school on Monday.” Marinette looked down at Tikki, finally taking in the stare. “...and if I don’t feel like he’s Chat Noir I’ll look into Adrien, okay?” Marinette said, almost like an offer. 

“Okay.” Tikki sighed, not wanting to press Marinette. Marinette slid her chair out and walked over to her vanity, taking out her makeup wipes. 

“Are you still tired enough to sleep? Because I’m very tired after everything.” Marinette asked, wiping off her makeup. 

“I’m still plenty tired. Ready to sleep whenever you are.” Tikki lounged on the fabric. 

“Good. I need to get up early to help mama and papa in the bakery.” Marinette said, turning and climbing up her ladder and into her bed.


	17. Seventeen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marinette stalks another blond boy.

Adrien slapped his phone, silencing his alarm. He rubbed at his eyes and sat up, pushing his blankets off of himself. He found himself up far later than he had intended, scouring the Ladyblog and making lists. He pulled himself out of bed, nearly tripping over Plagg who was passed out a top his crumpled tux on the floor. Plagg had been asleep since the pair had gotten into Adrien’s room the night before the party, and Adrien didn’t want to wake him. So he had to find some other way to get his energy out other than rambling about Ladybug to his companion. 

Adrien walked over to his desk and skimmed over his papers, reading through his various hypotheses. He had found that every one of his classmates (save for Marinette and himself) had been akumatized at one point, and many other students from other classes had as well. But there were still so many students that had never been akumatized and match Ladybug’s frame. There were a few girls in the grade below who hadn’t been akumatized, and had the right body type. 

He had written down any name that could be a match, but found himself crossing some names out as the night went on. Girls who didn’t have earrings, girls whose hair was too short to ever go in pony tails, girls who were just a bit too tall, and then the girls who he just simply didn’t think were Ladybug. Like Marinette. Sure, she fit the description, had earrings, and actually already wore ponytails, but Adrien assumed that if Ladybug sat behind him every day in class he would know.

If Plagg were awake he would scoff, not that Adrien would notice. Adrien startled at a knock on his door, his eyes anxiously landing on Plagg. “Adrien?” The door began to open, Nathalie barely visible as she pushed it open. Adrien dove for the floor, landing over Plagg. “You need to leave for your photo shoot in 15 minutes. Please be ready.” She said not even remotely reacting to the teenage boy’s bizarre position. She closed the door as she backed out, letting Adrien sit upright. Plagg groaned from underneath him. 

“You have 15 minutes until we both need to go.” Adrien stood up, heading off to his bathroom to get ready. “Let’s just hope it’s a low Akuma day.” Adrien glanced back at Plagg, who remained on the floor. 

\--------------------------------------------

“I don’t want to jinx it...” Marinette trailed off, standing over her balcony. “But I think it might be a no-akuma day.” She glanced down to Tikki, who hovered beside her looking more alive than the night before. 

“I think you might be right, Marinette.” Tikki smiled, looking relaxed. “You’re probably safe to go to sleep soon. It’s pretty late for an Akuma attack.” 

Marinette frowned, looking troubled. “You said you were worried about Hawkmoth’s kwami, right?”

“Yes. And while the break from akumas is great for myself, it could entail two possibilities for Nooroo.” Tikki looked up to Marinette, her face unreadable. “Either Hawkmoth realized that Nooroo was being damaged, or... Nooroo wasn’t even able to transform.” 

“It’s possible that he wasn’t able to transform?” Marinette looked surprised. The idea of Tikki being so tired and worn out to the point of not being able to transform was shocking.

“If the amount of attacks had kept up, it’s very likely that I would have been unable to go into your miraculous for an extended period of time, until I was rested enough. If it was bad enough, it could have lasted for days...” Tikki trailed off. “But it would have been a while longer until that happened to me, don’t worry.” She reassured Marinette, who didn’t look any less troubled. 

“Let’s hope that there aren’t any more Akuma attacks for a few days, for everyone’s sake.” Marinette said, pushing open the trapdoor. She watched as Tikki fluttered inside before following suit. 

\----------------------------------------------

Marinette sat on a bench at lunch, watching William from across the court yard. She waited patiently for a moment to strike, chewing on her croissant. She had her conversation topics lined up, having studied his various social media accounts on Sunday. During her intensive research, Tikki sat by exasperated with Marinette’s stubbornness. She had tried to convince Marinette that William wasn’t Chat Noir to no avail. Marinette saw her opportunity to rush over to his table as a few of his friends stood up and walked away. She silently approached the table, the few boys left fell silent as she approached. 

“Hi. William, right?” She asked, standing beside him. William looked up from his lunch, confused. 

“Yeah, what’s up?” He asked, his voice catching Marinette a little off guard. She was expecting a voice similar to Chat Noir’s, not the deep, gravelly voice that didn’t match the boy’s young face. 

“O-oh” she said before regaining her composure. “I heard about your winning goal a few nights ago and wanted to congratulate you. The school’s sports teams can always use great players.” She smiled, clasping her hands together.

“Hell yeah, dude. Pierre over here saw it first hand.” He motioned to the boy sitting across from him. “Tell ‘er, man.” 

“My man William over here straight up won us that game. Without him we’d be screwed.” The two fist bumped over the table, their other friends patting William on the back.

“Right on.” He turned back to Marinette. “So what’s your deal?” He asked. Marinette knew his tone wasn’t aggressive or mean in any way, but the question still rubbed her the wrong way.

“I’m Marinette, president for Mlle. Bustier’s class.” Marinette declared proudly. 

“Yooo, I thought you were an upperclassman.” William looked as if his mind had been blown. 

“Isn’t Chloe Bourgeois in that class?” One of his friends asked, leaning forward. 

“She is.” Marinette answered, not liking where this conversation was going.

“That chick is mad hot. Is she single?” William asked, suddenly excited. “If you ignore how completely annoying she seems, she’s a total babe.” 

“I don’t know much about Chloe.” Marinette forced a smile. “So what do you do in your freetime?”

“Sports.” He replied, clearly disinterested. “How do you not know much about Chloe? She’s in your class.” 

“I just... Don’t.” Marinette pulled out her phone, pretending to check the time. “Oh, darn. Would you look at the time? I have to meet my friend.” She lied through her teeth, smiling all the while. “Nice chatting with you, William.” 

“Yeah, you too, Mackenzie.” William said, turning back to his friends. Marinette walked away, absolutely stunned. She slipped into the girls bathroom and made sure the stalls were empty before opening her purse. Tikki floated out, an ‘I told you so’ look painted over her face. Marinette groaned. 

“Don’t look at me like that.” Marinette rolled her eyes.

“Look at you like what, Mackenzie?” Tikki joked, poking Marinette’s arm. 

“That was not what I expected.” Marinette looked into the mirror. “He’s... kind of a douche. And as much as Chat Noir can be annoying, I would never call him a douche.” 

“Well said, Marinette.” Tikki hovered over. “So that leaves...” 

“Adrien.” Marinette pursed her lips. “But I don’t think it’s him. He’s... so different.” 

“Are you the same person when you’re Ladybug?” Tikki tilted her head. 

“No, but that’s different.” Marinette protested.

“No it’s not.”

“C’mon, Tikki. You can’t really think Adrien is Chat Noir, can you?” Marinette frowned at Tikki.

“You said you would look into Adrien if William didn’t match up.” Tikki looked as if she had already won the argument, but Marinette wasn’t close to done.

“Maybe Chat Noir dosen’t go to this school. It could be just a coincidence that he was wearing a tuxedo.” Marinette speculated.

“A black tuxedo. The same one as Adrien. On the night of a school dance.” Tikki squinted.

“Can transforming change your voice?” Marinette was racking her brain for ways to pin William as Chat Noir.

“No.” Tikki said, on the verge of shaking Marinette (if she could). Marinette only bit her lip in response. “You can’t just ignore the possibility, Marinette...”

“Fine. Fine. I’ll look into Adrien now, okay?” Marinette sighed, defeated. Tikki let out a small noise of victory before darting back into Marinette’s purse, the lunch bell ringing conveniently. 

Marinette made her way up to class and slid into her seat, waiting for her classmates to arrive. Eventually, Nino and Alya took their places, Adrien trailing behind them. Marinette couldn’t help herself but stare (more than usual, that is) as he walked in and sat in front of her. If Alya noticed Marinette’s gaze glued onto Adrien, she didn’t comment. Marinette barely heard Chloe’s whispered “ _Pa-the-tic._ ” As she passed, far too engrossed in the back of Adrien’s head to notice or care. 

“Hello, class! I hope you had a good lunch!” Mlle. Bustier said, smiling at every student as she made her way into class. “Unfortunately, the copy machine has been broken since Friday evening, and I wasn’t able to get your papers for today printed.” She exaggerated her frown. “But don’t worry. Instead of doing your assignment today, instead we’ll be watching a video recreation of Romeo and Juliet to hopefully inspire you for your presentations starting tomorrow.” She turned the projector on and started to boot up her computer. 

Marinette’s attention was snapped away from Adrien’s head. She had nearly forgotten about the Romeo and Juliet project, let alone the presentation. She also nearly forgot that Adrien was set to come over tomorrow night to practice one last time before their presentation, as they were scheduled to perform on the second day. She didn’t know what she would do if she found out Adrien was Chat Noir and then had to perform with him. 

“You all will soon notice that the video was done entirely with cats. I figured you all would enjoy it much more than a regular recreation of a Romeo and Juliet scene.” Mlle. Bustier said, loading the video. Marinette stifled her groan. Of course it was done with cats. What else would it be? Mlle. Bustier clicked play and the class watched the several minutes of cats in costumes dubbed with human voices. She couldn’t help but notice that Romeo was played by a light yellow cat, and Juliet was a Black cat. 

As the video concluded, Mlle. Bustier turned off the projector and turned to the class. “What did you all think?” She glanced around the room, frowning at the lack of raised hands. Upon seeing her disappointment, Adrien lifted his hand. “Yes, Adrien?”

“I thought that the video was _pawsome._ ” He said, the smirk on his face evident even thought his voice. Nino shoved his arm lightly. “What? It was just _purrfect_.” He winked. A few students behind him groaned. Marinette’s breath hitched in her throat. Alya reached over and gently closed Marinette’s slightly open mouth. 

“Cat got your tongue?” Alya whispered. Despite her joking tone, Alya was more spot on than she could ever know. Throughout the rest of the day, Marinette continued to stare at Adrien to an alarming extent, listening to his every word, his every movement. Eventually, the day came to an end and she walked home, straight up to her room. Without saying a word to Tikki, she sat down at her computer and turned it on, opening her photo editing software of choice before grabbing a picture of Adrien from a recent ad online. She clicked onto the Ladyblog and took a picture of Chat Noir, dragging it beside the photo of Adrien. 

Her eyes shot back and forth between the two, her mind racing faster than ever before. She clicked open a video of Chat Noir talking from Alya’s blog and listened to it before going onto Alya’s instagram, finding a video from their last group outing. She clicked play and listened to Alya’s voice through her speakers. “ _Our boy Adrien actually showed up this time!_ ” She smiled into the camera. 

“ _Do you really need to film this?_ ” Nino said from somewhere in front of Alya. 

“ _Of course. This is so rare._ ” She said, turning the camera to point at Adrien, who smiled. 

“ _This is a little much, Alya._ ” He said, shaking his head. Marinette paused the video before Alya could continue to speak. She switched back to the recording of Chat Noir again and pressed play, staring vacantly at the screen as his voice filled her room. She was silent long after the video ended. 

“Oh my god.” She finally said, her voice quiet. Tikki could only look on smugly as Marinette sat frozen. “Oh my god. _Tikki_. Oh my god.” She repeated, her voice getting louder. She looked over to Tikki, her eyes wide. “He’s...” 

“Go on.” Tikki said, trying not to look too smug. 

“Adrien Agreste is Chat Noir.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the 2 cut off things at the start. I needed to write those scenes but they're way too short to be on their own, so they get to start this one.


	18. Eighteen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You may have seen a different version of this chapter up for ~30 minutes before it was deleted. I read through again after uploading it and realized it was paced weirdly, and decided to extend out the main points of the chapter. If you happened to read the previous version, this one is the same up until about half way through when it changes.

“You can do this.” Tikki encouraged, sitting on Marinette’s leg. “You got through today without any problems.” 

“I got through today because I didn’t talk to him at all.” Marinette said, shaking nervously. She had managed to go to school and not explode upon seeing Adrien. The only way she had been able to stop herself from saying or doing something she might regret. The day had gone by in a near blur of helping Alya and Nino do their scene for Romeo and Juliet, actively not looking at Adrien, half-listening in Science, and taking notes in history class. On top of her luck at school, there thankfully hadn’t been an Akuma since the dance on Friday, 3 days ago. She wasn’t quite sure how she would handle seeing Chat Noir knowing who he is. And if he flirted with her as Ladybug? She hadn’t the slightest clue what would happen.

Despite her ability to not talk to Adrien at school, there was no way she would be able to get away with it while he was at her house. She knew she had a few minutes to get herself together before he was set to arrive. “I really do think it would be easiest if you just told him.” Tikki said, making Marinette flashback to their conversation the night prior. 

“I’ve already told you. I can’t just tell him.” Marinette frowned. “He wouldn’t... He loves Ladybug. He doesn’t love Marinette.”

“Marinette _is_ Ladybug.” Tikki shook her head, annoyed with Marinette’s stubbornness. 

“Ladybug is strong, brave, confident, and smart.” Marinette sighed. “But I’m not actually Ladybug.” 

“That’s ridiculous. All I give you is the suit and the powers. Any confidence and what not is from yourself.” Tikki took a deep breath. “And Adrien is friends with Marinette. It’s not as if he hates you. I don’t think he would be disappointed.”

“I’m no Ladybug.” Marinette looked off into the distant. Tikki wanted to scream. In all of her wisdom she could not convince a teenage girl that an oblivious boy wouldn’t be disappointed by her. Tikki floated in silence for a few moments, thinking. “Since Adrien is Chat Noir, anything Chat says while in costume is something Adrien says, right?” She finally said.

“Yeah? I don’t know what your point is, he flirts with Ladybug.” Marinette pursed her lips. 

“Do you remember every time he’s interacted with you as Marinette while he’s Chat?” Tikki asked, watching Marinette sceptically nod her head. “I take it you recall him showing off. To Marinette.”

“He... That’s just how he is as Chat Noir.” Marinette countered.

“Does he act like that when he’s been tasked with dealing with Chloe? Does he act like that to other civilians?”

“Not really, but-” Marinette was cut off by Tikki.

“He trusts you as Marinette, in and out of costume. He confided in you that he loves Ladybug. He saw you, Marinette, looking forlorn on your balcony and came to you for comfort when he was upset. He didn’t have to take you to his surprise for Ladybug. He didn’t have to carry you there like he did. Whether he knows it or not, he likes Ladybug _and_ Marinette.” Tikki went on, clearly done with Marinette’s stupidity. “You’re both just too blind to see it. He would never be disappointed in who you are.” 

Marinette was speechless. She processed Tikki’s words and finally opened her mouth, only to be cut off by her father’s voice from below. “Marinette! Adrien is here! I’m sending him up.” She looked up in horror to Tikki, who simply shrugged, gave Marinette a kiss on the cheek, and flew off to Marinette’s bed to hide. Marinette nearly jumped out of her skin as the hatch opened, Adrien’s head popping in.

“Hey, Marinette.” He smiled. Marinette almost threw up.

“H-hey Adrien.” She said, trying desperately to keep her composure as he shut the hatch, stepping closer to her. He stood idly nearby, waiting pointlessly for her to say something more. 

“So I guess we should start practicing, right?” He said, filling in for her silence. Marinette nodded her head and stood up, grabbing her copy of Romeo and Juliet from the desk. Adrien took in her nervous posture and raised an eyebrow. 

“Are you okay?” He asked, looking sympathetic. Marinette shook her head, trying to put on a brave face. 

“I’m fine!” She said, her voice coming out abnormally high. She coughed, avoiding eye contact with Adrien. He frowned, but didn’t press.

“So after watching some of the presentations today, I was thinking we could do more physical acting.” He suggested. 

“Wh-what do you mean?” Marinette barely managed to get out.

“Well as of right now we’ve only been doing actions on our own, right? So I think it would add to the scene if we interacted physically with each other, like reaching out and holding hands for a second and stuff like that.” Adrien said very nonchalantly, which strongly contrasted with Marinette’s stiff posture. Adrien could have suggested anything else and it would have been better for Marinette. 

She found herself incapable of anything other than pressing her lips together and nodding. Adrien took what he could get and opened his own copy of Romeo and Juliet, flipping to their scene. 

“So we start with Friar Lawrence’s line...” Adrien trailed off and cleared his throat. “ _Amen, amen. But come what sorrow can, It cannot countervail the exchange of joy. That one short minute gives me in her sight. Do thou but close our hands with holy words, Then love-devouring death do what he dare; It is enough I may but call her mine._ ” He read, looking up to Marinette, who stared at her own book intently. “Okay, and Friar Lawrence’s line again. Then you enter.” 

Marinette looked up and stepped towards Adrien, entering the scene. She took a deep breath and kept her voice as steady as she could. “ _Good e-even to my ghostly confessor._ ” She said. Finally looking up to Adrien. “Friar Lawrence speaks.” Adrien nodded his head. “ _As much to him, else... i-is his thanks too much._ ” 

“ _Ah, Juliet, if the measure of thy joy Be heaped like mine, and that thy skill be more To blazon it, then sweeten with thy breath This neighbor air_ ” He recited and extended his hand to Marinette, who found herself staring at it for an uncomfortable amount of time. He waited for her to finally take his hand in hers before continuing. “ _and let rich music’s tongue Unfold the imagined happiness that both Receive in either by this dear encounter._ ” He smiled, clearly happy with Marinette’s participation. 

“ _Conceit, more rich in matter... than in words, Brags of his substance, not of ornament. They are but beggars that can count their wo-worth. But my true love is grown to such excess I cannot sum up sum of half my wealth._ ” Marinette was far too focused on keeping herself audible to properly notice Adrien moving closer to her as she spoke, not even noticing his hand as it rested on her waist. 

“And then Friar Lawrence’s line.” He said, appearing to not notice Marinette’s frozen expression. The two stood close, only a few inches apart. Adrien’s other hand still held Marinette’s. “That was good, I think interacting is going to help us get a better grade.” He smiled. Marinette glanced to their entwined hands and nearly let out a small shriek as her eyes connected with his silver ring. She recognized the shape, and mentally cursed herself for not piecing it together sooner.

At the same time, Adrien would have seen Marinette’s earrings if not for her hair moving to cover them as she turned her head to look at their entwined hands. He glanced back to her, taking note of her wide eyes. “Is everything okay, Marinette?”

“Yes. Yes. It’s fine.” She sputtered out, tearing her eyes away from his ring. She couldn’t tell him. Not now. Not here. They had a presentation to do the next day together. What if it went badly? What if he hated her after? She wasn’t going to take that risk.

“Alright...” Adrien said, clearly not believing her. “Maybe we should go over the essay one last time? Just to revise it.” 

“Sounds good.” Marinette said, nearly jumping back from Adrien, her nerves on fire. She sat down in front of her computer, Adrien pulling up a chair beside her. The two worked on editing the essay, Adrien doing most of the talking and Marinette simply agreeing and typing. Eventually, Adrien had to make his leave for a piano lesson. Marinette let out a sigh of relief and frustration after he left, tugging on the tufts of hair hanging beside her face. Tikki came down from the bed, frowning.

“You could have told him.” She said, shaking her head. “Now you’re going to be a ball of nerves.” 

“I... I couldn’t risk ruining our presentation.” Marinette bit her lip.

“Wouldn’t your stuttering mess it up more?” Tikki raised her eyebrows.

“Well-” Marinette frowned. “I know! If I practice my lines all night, I’ll be able to read them confidently tomorrow in class, even if Adrien is so close to me. I'm not going to let this get in the way of my grades.”

“If you think it’ll help.” Tikki sighed, resigning to losing the fight. Marinette settled in on her chair, clearing her throat and running through her lines until it was time to go downstairs for dinner with her parents.


	19. Nineteen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Performance day.

Adrien should have been annoyed about an Akuma attack happening before school, but he just couldn’t bring himself to as he ran along the rooftops, Ladybug mirroring him across the street. He hadn’t seen Ladybug since their last battle on Friday, and he found himself missing her dearly. Much to his dismay, he hadn’t gotten a chance to talk to her yet, either. The two had only just fallen into step, running towards the villain.

There was one downside to seeing Ladybug on this oh-so fine morning. He was a bit worried the fight would last long, and potentially dip into when he was set to present with Marinette. He wasn’t quite sure how he would explain being late, or worse, not showing up to their presentation. But now wasn’t the time to worry about it. Plagg was back to normal, having the last few days to rest and eat disgusting amounts of cheese. The two superheroes dove towards the akumatized fire fighter, who was blasting various civilian’s with water from his super hose. He whipped around, pointing the hose at Chat Noir, who was knocked over midair, falling far too short. 

“Can’t handle the water, you feral cat?” The fire fighter said, clearly unstable on his feet due to the recoil from the hose. 

Ladybug landed on his other side, threw her yoyo into the air, and somehow managed to grab the handle of the chainsaw that dropped from above. She scanned around quickly, seeing only one opportunity. Chat Noir shook off the water. “Some cats like water, I’ll have you kn-” He said, lunging at the Akuma before being blasted with water once more. Ladybug took her opportunity and dove forward, revving the chain saw up and slicing the hose. Water began sputtering uncontrollably for a moment, before an Akuma came fluttering out. 

Chat Noir shook himself off, watching the hose as it slowly faded away from the cut. He couldn't quite place how far the hose went, or where it came from. By the time he thought to look over the edge it dropped off of a few meters back, the hose had already disappeared and the villain had returned to normal. As Ladybug uncomfortably threw the chainsaw in the air, the water vanished from Chat Noir and the ground around him, making his suit massively more comfortable. Ladybug clipped her yoyo onto her side and turned to the fire fighter.

“Are you okay?” She asked, kneeling down. The man nodded his head, frowning.

“Was I akumatized?” He asked, seeming to regain some of his memories. 

“You were, but everything is okay now.” Ladybug reassured him, giving him a comforting smile. She instinctively glanced up, her face turning as red as her suit as she noticed Chat Noir staring at her. She stood up and dusted her knees off, not looking anywhere near Chat Noir. 

“Well, my Lady.” Chat said, strutting up beside her. “It’s lovely to see you again after such a long break.” 

“Yep.” Ladybug said, staring uncharacteristically at the ground. 

“Do you have time to talk?” He asked, not really absorbing her bizarre stance. 

“No.” She said, looking up at the sky, thinking of a way to get out of there before she said something stupid- “And you don’t either. You have to get to school.” And there it was. She knew instantly she had messed up. 

“School...?” Chat Noir blinked. “I’ve never said that I-”

“It was a s-slip of the tongue.” She said, clearly lying. “I... I need to go.” She stuttered.

Chat Noir looked at her for a moment before reaching out and grabbing onto her wrist as she turned away. “Wait, M’lady...” She turned around, her eyes wide. “If there’s something wrong, you can tell me. You know that, right?” He said, taking her hand up to his lips. He pressed a light kiss against the back of her hand, smiling up at her. She pulled her hand back very quickly, looking away. Chat Noir frowned, assuming she was offended or something of the like. Had he been able to see her face, he would have noticed that she was blushing furiously. 

“I-I need to go.” She said, absolutely none of her typical Ladybug confidence leaking through her words. She ran off, using her yoyo to swing away as fast as possible, for two reasons: one, she needed to get away from Chat Noir ASAP, and two, she still had to get to school. Chat Noir was left alone, staring after Ladybug as she swung away. He sighed, wondering why Ladybug had stuttered so much, when she usually spoke as if she had a script. 

If he didn’t know any better, he would say it reminded him of Marinette. 

But he knew better. 

He rushed off to a private place close to the school, transforming back to Adrien and walking inside, the bell ringing as he rushed up the stairs and into his classroom. He took his seat, nearly slamming his head against the table as he remembered his bag still in his room at home. “Woah, dude. Why do you look so sour?” Nino asked, taking in Adrien’s expression.

“I forgot my bag at home.” He groaned.

“It didn’t have your essay in it, did it?” Nino looked almost as concerned as Adrien.

“No, Marinette has that.” Adrien said, looking behind and up at Marinette, who was staring down at her desk. Adrien frowned and turned back to Nino, who shrugged. “Anyways, I guess I’ll just have to use a spare copy of Romeo and Juliet from Mlle. Bustier.” 

“What’s that? My Adrien using some random copy of Romeo and Juliet?” Chloe said, stepping out of her seat. “No, no. Use Sabrina’s.” She said, snatching Sabrina’s book off the desk and strutting to Adrien’s desk. She plopped it down in front of him and leaned forward, resting her elbows on the desk.

“Thanks, Chloe...” Adrien said sliding the book towards himself. Chloe pressed her hand atop his.

“I really hope that _Marinette_ doesn’t ruin your fantastic performance, Adrikins.” Chloe smiled as if she had said the sweetest thing she had ever said, which it may very well have been had she not lodged an insult towards Marinette in there.

“Marinette is what’s going to make our performance great, Chloe. Not me.” Adrien smiled to Chloe, who looked disgusted, before turning to Marinette. He furrowed his brows as Marinette slammed her head onto the desk. Alya leaned over. 

“What she means is ‘ _Thanks, Adrien!_ ’” Alya said, placing her hand on the back of Marinette’s head. Adrien gave Alya a half hearted smile and nod before turning around, nearly jumping out of his seat. Chloe had leaned further over the desk, her face nearly touching his. 

“Look at her, Adrien. She can’t even hold her own head up.” Chloe sneered. “I don’t know why you agreed to partner up with her in the first place.” She stood up and walked back to her desk as Mlle. Bustier entered the class.

“Good morning, everyone!” Mlle. Bustier greeted, smiling. “We have a lot of presentations to get through today, so let’s get started. Do we have any volunteers?” She glanced around the room, seeing only Adrien’s hand shoot up. “Wonderful! Adrien, Marinette, if you could please come to the front and begin.” Mlle. Bustier sat down at her desk and pulled out some papers. Marinette’s head shot up, fear coursing through her veins. 

“C’mon, Marinette. It’ll be easiest if we get it over with first, right?” Adrien said, standing up in the aisle. Marinette nodded her head and stood up with him, walking to the front of the class, book in hand. Adrien took his position and waited for Alya to stand beside him, Marinette standing off to the side, out of the scene. Alya cleared her throat.  
“ _So smile the heavens upon this holy act that after-hours with sorrow chide us not._ ” She recited, lowering her voice. 

“ _Amen, amen. But come what sorrow can, It cannot countervail the exchange of joy that one short minute gives me in her sight. Do thou but close our hands with holy words, then love-devouring death do what he dare; It is enough I may but call her mine._ ” Adrien said, looking wistfully off into the distance. 

“ _These violent delights have violent ends and in their triumph die, like fire and powder, which, as they kiss, consume. The sweetest honey Is loathsome in his own deliciousness and in the taste confounds the appetite. Therefore love moderately. Long love doth so. Too swift arrives as tardy as too slow._ ” Alya said, her voice bouncing around the room. Marinette rushed onto the scene. Adrien embraced her in a quick hug as the script read before she stepped back a little, waiting for Alya to finish her line. “ _Here comes the lady. Oh, so light a foot Will ne'er wear out the everlasting flint. A lover may bestride the gossamers That idles in the wanton summer air, And yet not fall. So light is vanity._ ” Alya spoke, looking up to Marinette encouragingly. 

Adrien was fully expecting Marinette to stutter as she had during practice, but to his surprise, she spoke with confidence. “ _Good even to my ghostly confessor._ ” Her voice was crystal clear and well rehearsed, shocking even Alya, who took an extra moment before saying her line.

“ _Romeo shall thank thee, daughter, for us both._ ” She said, nodding her head to Marinette. 

“ _As much to him, else is his thanks too much_.” While Marinette’s voice was composed, her body was not. She was fidgeting with her book, nervously tapping her foot. 

“ _Ah, Juliet, if the measure of thy joy be heaped like mine, and that thy skill be more to blazon it, then sweeten with thy breath this neighbour air_ ,” Adrien took Marinette’s hand and pulled her closer. “ _and let rich music’s tongue unfold the imagined happiness that both receive in either by this dear encounter._ ” Adrien smiled at Marinette before pulling her into an embrace. 

The way she spoke so confidently reminded him of Ladybug, on any normal day other than today. It took him by surprise, as the two girls being complete opposites of their usual dialect threw him a little off guard. 

“ _Conceit, more rich in matter than in words, brags of his substance, not of ornament. They are but beggars that can count their worth._ ” Marinette spoke as the two continued to embrace in the same way they had the day before. This time, however, Adrien was able to catch sight of Marinette’s earrings. This was the first time he had ever gotten up close to Marinette’s earrings since familiarizing himself with every nook and cranny of Ladybug’s earrings. “ _But my true love is grown to such excess I cannot sum up sum of half my wealth._ ” Marinette finished her line as Adrien continued to stare wide eyed at her ears. Not that she noticed, of course. 

They were round, half spheres, the same size as Ladybug’s earrings, deep red, almost translucent, as if something could fill them. Alarms rang through his head, as if a fire had been started. He pulled back a little from Marinette and looked at her, holding eye contact. He continued to scan over her face, ignoring her clearly startled expression. Her eyes were a dead match. This he already knew, however, her wide eyes on this particular moment matched perfectly with Ladybug’s earlier saucer plate expression. 

“ _Come, come with me, and we will make short work. For, by your leaves, you shall not stay alone till holy church incorporate two in one._ ” Alya said, breaking Adrien from his near trance like state. She was too busy looking at her lines to notice the absolutely bizarre interaction happening before her. Her line cued the trio’s exit, they walked away, falling into step with each other as they came to the edge of the classroom. 

Their classmates began to clap politely, Adrien still staring at Marinette. “Excellent! Do you have your essay ready to hand in?” Mlle. Bustier asked, putting her pen down.

“I have it in my bag.” Marinette said, walking back over to her bag. She grabbed her essay out and walked over to Mlle. Bustier’s desk where she stapled the pages together and handed it over, Adrien watching her every move all the while. 

He was frozen.

In shock, some might say.

But as the feeling of shock faded, Adrien only had one emotion. 

He had never felt stupider in his entire life.


	20. Twenty

Marinette could feel Adrien’s eyes on her as she handed in their essay. She could feel his eyes trailing her as she sat down. She refused to look at him, worried she would crack under his gaze. She hadn’t the slightest clue why he was staring, but she forced it out of her mind, turning to face Alya as she took her seat beside Marinette.

“Girl, your voice was so steady.” Alya nodded her head in respect toward Marinette. “I was so prepared for you to be a stuttering mess.” 

Marinette rolled her eyes, avoiding looking as Adrien sat down below her. “Practice makes perfect.” 

“So all that practice with Adrien really paid off, didn’t it?” Alya leaned forward and tapped Adrien on the shoulders. “I have to say, you were a pretty convincing Romeo.”Adrien turned around and smiled at Adrien, his eyes briefly darting to Marinette before he turned back to face Mlle. Bustier.

“Any volunteers to go next?” Mlle. Bustier asked, her eyes glancing around the room and landing on Kim’s hand. “Go ahead, Kim!” She smiled and pulled out a new paper as Kim’s group made their way to the front of the class. 

Marinette tried to pay attention to the rest of the performances. She really did. But it was hard to keep her mind on the mispronounced old English words coming from her classmate’s mouths when her partner in (fighting) crime was sitting directly in front of her. 

Not to mention the love of her life. 

Adrien, on the other hand, didn’t even try to pay attention. Sure, his eyes were focused on the front of the class, but if anyone bothered to look at him for more than a passing glance they would see how vacant his eyes were. His mind was on verifying his theory. Did she look like Ladybug? Yes. Did she have earrings? Yes. Did she have Ladybug’s charisma (when she wasn’t stuttering)? Yes. Was she constantly bailing out of things or late? Yes, somehow more than him. And she was fast, clearly athletic with the flimsiest reason for her sudden speed and stamina. 

Despite the evidence, Adrien couldn’t help but feel doubtful. What if he was wrong and revealed himself as Chat Noir to Marinette, not Ladybug? Would she even want to know? They were good friends, and Marinette knew how Chat Noir felt about Ladybug. Otherwise known as: Marinette would know how Adrien technically felt about her. And they were such good friends.

He didn’t want to risk losing their friendship.

Right? Assuming she is Ladybug... it would certainly complicate a lot of things. Adrien knew he was nothing more than a friend to Marinette. At least, he thought he was nothing more than a friend. Desperately wanting to talk it through with someone, he remembered his miniature black cat tucked away in his jacket. He waited for the current performance to finish before raising his hand. 

“Yes, Adrien?” Mlle. Bustier said, putting her pen down.

“Could I use the bathroom?” He asked. Mlle. Bustier nodded her head and Adrien stood, stepping to the door and pushing it open. He stepped out, but not before stealing a quick glance at Marinette, who was staring at what most be the most interesting desk. He shut the door behind him and walked down to the bathroom, waiting for the boy at the urinal to leave before letting Plagg hover out.

“Very kind of you to let me out of your jacket before using the can.” Plagg stretched his arms.

“That’s not what I’m here for.” Adrien said, his brow furrowed. Plagg took note of his serious expression and chose to held back any further comments. “ I think... I think Marinette is Ladybug.” He bit his lip. 

“You think?” Plagg squinted. “What makes you think that?” Ever the devil’s advocate, Plagg knew he had to make Adrien work for his conclusion.

“Her earrings, how she looks, how she’s never been akumatized...” Adrien listed off, more and more points coming to him as he spoke. 

“Perhaps it’s a coincidence?” Plagg suggested.

“That would be one insane coincidence.” Adrien shook his head before snapping it up to Plagg. “Her hair.” 

“Her hair?”

“Her hair was curled the same night that Ladybug’s pigtails were in ringlets.” His brow somehow furrowed more. “Can... How would that have transferred through her transformation?”

Plagg hesitated, not wanting to withhold information from Adrien, but at the same time not wanting to just give up the answer. “If her kwami was tired...” 

“Would the transformation have been weaker?” Adrien connected the dots. 

“It’s possible.” Plagg sniffed his nose. “Did you bring any cheese with you today?”

“This isn’t the time for that, Plagg.” Adrien frowned, but upon seeing his kwami’s restless expression softened his own. “I brought a little bit. It’s in my locker though, I’ll get it for you later.”

“Fantastic.” Plagg said, smiling. 

“Wait...” Adrien pursed his lips, thinking. “She’s never been in the same place as Ladybug. Right?” 

“I wouldn’t know, I hardly pay attention to that sort of thing.” Plagg wrinkled his nose. “So you think Marinette is Ladybug. What’s your plan.”

“I don’t know. I don’t know if I should tell her or not. Wouldn’t it make things uncomfortable?” Adrien glanced at the door. 

“Please elaborate.” 

“Well I told Marinette that I’m- er, Chat Noir, is in love with Ladybug. But she’s Ladybug. So by extension... If she found out who I was, then she would know that I love _her_.” Adrien sighed, looking off past Plagg. “And we’re good friends. I would never want to ruin that with unrequited love.”

Plagg almost couldn’t believe how oblivious Adrien was. No. Oblivious wasn’t the right word. Stupid fit a little better. He genuinely seemed to believe that Marinette did not have feelings for him. “What about those picture of you in her room?” Plagg kept his expression neutral, not showing his disbelief. 

“She told me those were because she’s into fashion.” 

“You believed that?” Plagg’s mouth was ever so slightly open, the only bit of his disbelief slipping through.

“Why wouldn’t I? Why else would she have photos of me ever-” Adrien paused, his face falling to neutral. “Photos of me under her bed.” 

“There it is.” Plagg couldn’t help himself. It was impressive Adrien hadn’t been kidnapped yet with how clueless he is. 

“She had... I didn’t...” Adrien looked around, blinking an abnormally high amount. “Does that mean... Does that mean that Ladybug...” Plagg was silent, letting Adrien get it out on his own. “Ladybug likes me?”

“Yes, that is what it means.” Plagg was growing bored of Adrien’s wide eyes. 

“I should tell her, right?” Adrien looked up to Plagg hopefully.

“Do what you want.” Plagg dismissed him, shaking his head. “As long as I get cheese I’m happy.” 

“Okay... I don’t think I should dive headfirst in and say I’m Chat Noir. I should test the waters, try to confirm that she’s Ladybug before I risk revealing myself to a civilian.” Adrien took a steady breath. “I have an idea.”

“Great.” Plagg said, giving Adrien a lazy thumbs up.

Adrien nodded his head and opened his jacket back up for Plagg to fly into. He walked back outside of his classroom, waiting in the hall until the presentation was over before walking in and sitting down. “Chloe tried to beg Mlle. Bustier to wait until you got back so you could see her scene.” Nino whispered as the class applauded the scene. 

“Of course.” Adrien sighed. Chloe was admittedly the last girl on his mind at that moment. He took a steady breath and turned to Marinette, who jumped as they made eye contact. “Hey, Marinette?”

“Y-es?” She said, looking as if he held a knife to her throat. 

“Would you like to do something after school?” He asked, perfectly calm. 

“Do someth... Why?” Marinette continued to look horrified. 

“I wanted to hang out.” Adrien paused. “and talk.” 

Marinette stared blankly at him, incapable of moving her mouth. Alya looked back and forth between Adrien and Marinette, and then sighed. “Marinette was telling me that she’s completely free tonight. So she can.” Alya smiled. Marinette shakily nodded her head.

“Great. I’ll catch up with you after school, okay?” Adrien smiled at Marinette, who barely managed to nod her head again. Adrien turned back around, plotting how this would go.


	21. Twenty One

Marinette somehow managed to pack up her things at the end of the day, grab her jacket from her locker, and make her way out to the front steps of the school without collapsing. To some, this may have been a small feat. In fact, if it weren’t for her afterschool plans, it would have been a very easy task for Marinette.

But unfortunately, she had much trouble in getting down the front steps successfully. On the last few steps, she stumbled forward. Her foot barely missed the second to last step as she saw her life flash before her eyes. Fully ready for the cold, hard ground to greet her, she was pleasantly surprised by the less cold and hard arms that caught her. She breathed a sigh of relief, then looked up.

Suddenly she found herself wishing she hadn’t breathed out just then, as it was becoming increasingly difficult to breathe in.

Adrien smiled down at her, carefully helping her to stand. “Are you alright?” He asked, lightly dusting off some dirt that had landed on Marinette’s shoulder. The contact made Marinette seize up more than she already had. 

“Good!” She managed to get out. “I’m good.” She stepped back, giving Adrien the most nervous smile he had ever seen in his life. 

“That’s good.” He smiled normally. “I was thinking my bodyguard could drive us to a park nearby since I don’t have modelling for another 25 minutes.” 

“Okay.” Marinette said, her voice near a whisper. Adrien guided Marinette into the back seat of his car, then slid in beside her. His Bodyguard started the car and drove off, the car as silent as if no one occupied it. 

“So...” Adrien said, breaking the silence. “How did you do on the science homework?” 

“I th-think I did fine.” Marinette stared intently out the window. If Adrien could have seen her face, he would have noticed her wide eyes and pursed lips. To anyone the car passed, it may have appeared as if she had been kidnapped.

“That’s good.” Adrien nodded his head. “Um...” He racked his brain for anything to say. “You did really good today during our performance.” He smiled at the back of her head.

“Thanks.” Marinette said quickly. “You d-did too.” She forced out, remembering her manners.

“Thanks.” Adrien unbuckled his seatbelt as the car rolled to a stop. Marinette did the same, albeit a little shakier. Adrien popped his door open and slid out. “25 minutes, right?” He asked his Bodyguard, who only nodded in response. Adrien shut the door behind him and walked over to the sidewalk, standing beside Marinette. 

Adrien had specifically chosen this park for its small secluded areas that they could talk in without anyone seeing or disturbing them. Adrien, of course, didn’t know the reputation this park held. Marinette did. And somehow her eyes managed to grow wider as her mind clicked with what park Adrien had taken her to. 

It was a notorious make out spot. 

Her face grew red and hot. Adrien glanced at her and smiled, not having the slightest clue why Marinette looked so flustered. “C’mon.” He said, taking her hand. It’s almost like he was trying to make her explode. He led her into the park, and into one of its many secluded hedge boxes. In the centre sat a bench, completely out of view from the rest of the park. Adrien sat down, and patted the spot next to him. Marinette reluctantly sat down beside him. 

“What do you think about Ladybug?” Adrien said, having come up with no plan on how to deal with this. Marinette’s breath caught in her throat. 

“I... Uh... She’s... cool?” Marinette’s voice released nervous energy. 

“And what about Chat Noir?” He asked. He was well aware he had no tact. He hadn’t been able to come up with any better way to bring up the two superheroes without going through a long, convoluted conversation (which would have been very one sided.) as he didn’t have enough time for small talk.

Marinette couldn’t bring herself to answer the question. She knew anything she said he would likely take personally. She couldn’t, for the life of her, come up with a reason for Adrien to be asking these questions. “He’s also cool.” She forced out, growing uncomfortable from Adrien’s patient gaze. She couldn’t take this. How was she supposed to survive being in the same class as this boy for the rest of the year?

How was she supposed to fight crime with him? She had two options. One: run away, abandon her miraculous, change her name, and start a new life in a nearby city. Or Two: Tell him.

As much as the former appealed to her, she knew it was in her (and the city’s) best interest to do the latter. “Adrien, I need to-”

Unfortunately for her plan, at the same time, Adrien had realized this conversation was going nowhere and he _really didn’t have time for this_. “You need to know som-” He said at the same time as her, stopping as he processed her voice. “What?”

“You first.” Marinette said, doing anything to avoid saying what she would eventually have to. 

“Okay. So...” Adrien trailed off. His usual confidence had faded. He hadn’t planned for it to be so difficult to say it. Marinette’s look of near terror wasn’t helping things, either. “I’m... How do I say this.” He stood up and paced a little in the small space. He wanted this part of the conversation to have more tact than the previous. He looked up at the blue sky above him, the red autumn leaves obscuring his view a little. 

“ _I know you’re Chat Noir!_ ” Marinette blurted out, causing Adrien to stand still and for his head to shoot back down. She learned that she had no ability to keep her mouth shut under pressure. Or, at least not in the presence of Adrien. The two stared at each other, neither saying anything. 

Adrien let out a small, relieved laugh. “How long have you known?” 

“Since... Since Monday.” Marinette looked nervously at her lap.

“That makes things a lot easier.” He watched her fiddle with the zipper of her jacket. “And you’re Ladybug.”

“How... how long have _you_ known?” Marinette said, refusing to look up.

“Since earlier today, at the end of our performance.” He couldn’t contain his smile. He knew for sure this was Ladybug, the girl of his dreams! The girl who loved him back-

“I’m sorry if you’re disappointed.” She said so quietly that Adrien could barely make out her words. His brow furrowed and his smile fell.

“What?” 

“I’m sorry... I’m sorry if you’re disappointed that _I’m_ Ladybug.” Marinette said. Adrien could hear the sorrow in her voice. “I know you probably expected someone better.”

Adrien crouched down before her at eye level. He reached out and gently pulled her chin upwards to make eye contact. “Marinette, I am not disappointed.” His face was serious, but his tone soft.

“But I’m... Ladybug is supposed to be strong, and confident, and smart, and-” Tears were starting to well up in the corners of her eyes. “And I’m not.”

“You are strong. You are confident. And you’re smart.” Adrien sighed. “You have to deal with Chloe tormenting you. How could someone who isn’t strong deal with that? And the way you spoke in today’s performance was nothing short of confident. And do I even have to explain why you’re smart? I’ve heard you help Alya in class.” 

“But I’m... You don’t...” Marinette’s face contorted, trying to keep her tears from spilling over. 

“Marinette...” Adrien carefully wiped the tears away from her eyes, frowning. His other hand still held her chin up, not letting her look back down at her lap. 

“You like Ladybug. Not me.” Marinette’s voice was hoarse. Her eyes glanced off to the side, not looking at Adrien. 

“But you are Ladybug.” Adrien said, his own voice practically a whisper. Finally her eyes shifted to meet his. She didn’t lean back as he slowly leaned forward. In fact, she found herself tilting her head the opposite direction of his. The pair’s lips met, connected only for a few moments before parting. Their inexperience was clear in the way their noses gently bumped as their faces met again, this time together longer. 

Time seemed to stop for the pair as they explored each other’s mouths. Had it been 5 seconds or 5 minutes? Neither would have been able to say. Adrien’s knees began to ache from the uncomfortable position, but he didn’t let that stop him. He was kissing _Ladybug_. He wouldn’t stop for anything, not the world, not for hawkmoth-  
His phone rang, forcing the two to separate. He groaned and pulled out his phone, glancing over the caller id. It was his Bodyguard. He knew his time must be up, and therefore, the only thing that would stop him from kissing Ladybug was his father’s schedule. 

“I guess that’s my cue.” Adrien frowned as he put his phone back in his pocket. He glanced back to Marinette, whose face was flushed. “Till next time, My Lady.” He smiled as he stood back up, noticing a distinct lack of his kwami hiding in his jacket. “Plagg...?” He called out, glancing around the small space. 

“Down here.” Tikki replied on Plagg’s behalf, sitting in the corner. Plagg sat next to her, looking massively unamused.

“I couldn’t stand being trapped away in your jacket while you were doing _that_.” Plagg shrugged, floating up. “So I slipped out.” He floated back into the jacket, settling inside. “Once more I’m hidden away.” 

Adrien smiled one last time at Marinette before turning out of the hedge, leaving her alone with Tikki. 

“Don’t you feel silly now?” Tikki floated up and sat on Marinette’s shoulder.

“What?” Marinette swallowed hard before speaking.

“You were so worried over nothing.” Tikki clicked her tongue. “If you had just listened to me then you could have avoided 3 days of worrying.”

“We can’t all be as smart as you, Tikki.” Marinette smiled, tapping Tikki lightly on her head.


	22. Twenty Two

Marinette tapped her pencil with anticipation as she stared at the door. Alya frowned, looking at her. “What are you waiting for?”

“O-oh! Nothing. I’m just distracted is all.” Marinette smiled at Alya, placing her pencil down and folding her hands over her lap to prevent fidgeting. Her nerves were so fried this morning that she managed to get to school on time (and a little early!) without problem. She hadn’t seen Adrien since they kissed, and was she ever nervous. She nearly jumped as she made eye contact with him as he entered. He winked at her, setting Marinette’s whole body on fire. Alya spotted the interaction and glanced at Marinette, an eyebrow raised. Marinette waved her off as Nino rushed into the classroom.

“Just in time.” Alya said, leaning over her desk as Nino sat down. He smiled breathlessly at her before hunching over to catch his breath. Mlle. Bustier strolled in, holding a stack of papers. 

“Good morning, class!” She smiled, standing in front of the class. “I have all of your marks on your essays and performances.” She glanced around. “I’ll be calling you up with your partner to receive your marks.” She sat down at her desk and pulled out the first few papers, held together by a staple. “Ivan and Kim?”

Groups went up two by two, some clearly happy with their marks, others not so much. After a few pairs, Mlle. Bustier called Marinette and Adrien up. Marinette stood up, focusing on not slipping on the steps down. By the time she arrived at Mlle. Bustier’s desk, Adrien was already waiting. “Here you are!” Mlle. Bustier smiled as she handed Adrien the papers. He stepped back from the desk, motioning Marinette to follow. He pulled open the papers and glanced over it. Smiling, he passed it to Marinette to look at. 

“I told you we would do well.” Adrien leaned forward, a smirk forming on his face. “I knew we would do well together.” He said, quieter. It did not help Marinette focus on reading over the notes on their performance. He was right, they did very well, particularly on their performance. Mlle. Bustier commented on the ‘ _electricity_ ’ between the two leads. Marinette glanced up, her cheeks flushing as she took in how close they stood to each other. If anyone wasn’t focused on their marks someone might-

“You two look cozy.” Alya noted, seeming to appear behind them. Marinette instinctively jumped back and looked away. Adrien coughed, then smiled at Alya. 

“What can I say? We’re both glad we got good marks.” Adrien explained. 

“Mhm, I’m sure.” Alya was clearly unconvinced. “Nino and I did pretty well.” 

“That’s not a surprise.” Adrien nodded his head, noticing Nino walk up behind Alya. 

“Alright, everyone! Take your seats.” Mlle. Bustier said, her desk clear of papers. The students returned to their desk and (more or less) focused on their lesson. Marinette found herself staring at Adrien’s head for the entire morning, but now rather than a stare filled with nervous energy, her eyes were full of excitement. Her morning classes passed quickly, and she found herself packing up her bags before she even knew it. 

“I’m going out with Nino for lunch. Are you going home?” Alya asked, tucking her essay away.

“Yeah, I think-” Marinette glanced at Alya and nodded, before being cut off by Adrien’s extended grasp. He tapped her shoulder from his desk below. 

“Do you want to eat lunch with me?” He asked, looking hopeful. 

“Sure!” Marinette beamed. Alya furrowed her brows before shaking her head. “Where... where do you want to eat?”

“How about at one of the tables in the courtyard?” He suggested. 

“Sounds good!” Marinette nodded her head and slipped her bag over her shoulders, stepping down the stairs to the ground level. Adrien grabbed his things and walked out with her, making their way to an empty table. She sat down across from him and anxiously clasped her hands over her lap, desperately trying not to fidget. Little did she know, Adrien was just as nervous as her. 

“So...” He trailed off, neither of them having taken out their food. “I guess there’s no point beating around it.” He smiled nervously. “We’re...”

“Yeah.” Marinette finished. “Are we...?” She struggled for a second. “You know...” She couldn’t say it aloud.

“Together?” He finished for her. “If you... if you’re okay with that.” He looked at her, his eyes growing frightful at Marinette’s stressed expression. “Because I would like to.” He said, quieter. 

Marinette’s heart almost exploded. “I do.” She rushed out, cringing at the sound of her voice. “I want to. Be with you. I mean.” 

Adrien smiled, wide. “So, My lady...” He leaned across the table a little bit. “Or should I say, _girlfriend_?” Marinette felt her face grow hot before her eyes grew wide with realization. 

“Who are we together as?” She asked, concerned.

“What?” Adrien’s smile faded, confused. 

“Are we... are we together as Adrien and Marinette? Or as _Ladybug and Chat Noir_?” She said their alternate names in a quiet, conspiratory tone. 

“Could we be as both?” He looked meekly up to her. 

“But wouldn’t it be suspicious if... If Ladybug and Chat Noir started dating as soon as we did?” Marinette glanced around; glad no one was within earshot. 

“We wouldn’t have to be public as Ladybug and Chat Noir.” Adrien paused, thinking. “At least not right away...” He smiled deviously. 

Marinette felt a blush crawl over her face. “O-okay.” She smiled. 

“What did you bring for lunch?” Adrien asked, pulling out his own lunch. 

“A chocolate croissant.” Marinette replied, taking out her lunch bag. Since she had intended to eat at home, Marinette only had one chocolate croissant that she grabbed to eat on her way to school. However she never ended up eating in part due to her nervousness over seeing Adrien. 

“Only one croissant?” Adrien raised his eyebrows, looking at the croissant. Marinette glanced at his full lunch, complete with a sandwich, small pastry, and drink. She nodded her head, taking a small bite of her croissant. Adrien clicked his tongue disapprovingly and picked up half his sandwich, handing it to Marinette.

“O-oh. I couldn’t-” Marinette started waving him off, shaking her head. 

“I insist.” Adrien smiled, still holding the sandwich out. Marinette’s will melted under his gaze. She took the sandwich, smiling back.

“Thanks.” She took a bite, glad she had something more to fill her empty stomach. “This is really good. Did you make it?”

“No, my dad had our chef make it for us.” He frowned. “I haven’t made myself a sandwich since... since my mom was around.” 

“I’m sorry.” Marinette debated reaching out and resting her hand over his. 

“Don’t be, it’s okay.” Adrien’s frown turned to a soft smile. “I would love to make myself a sandwich again.” 

“We could... We could make some together.” Marinette said nervously, afraid of rejection. 

“I’d like that.” Adrien took a bit of his sandwich. “Are you good at making sandwiches?” 

“I like to think so.” Marinette smiled. 

“Are your sandwiches better than your baked goods?” Adrien tilted his head. “Because those are always fantastic.”

“I don’t know about that.” Marinette laughed, flattered. “I guess I can’t really be my own judge.” She felt her anxiety fade and her nerves returning to normal. She was relaxing, her mind accepting who she was with. Adrien Agreste, aka Chat Noir, aka her boyfriend. 

“I’ll just have to find out for myself.” Adrien smiled slyly. He reached across the table and rested his hand over Marinette’s, the contact electric. Their moment of intimacy was ruined by Nino rushing into the courtyard, speeding towards their table. Marinette instinctively pulled her hand back, cursing herself afterwards.

“Hey, Nino. Where’s Alya?” Adrien asked, hiding his disappointment in the lack of Marinette’s hand. 

“She- There was an akuma attack outside of where we were eating and-” Nino paused, catching his breath. He looked panicked and flustered. “She chased after it, saying it was for her blog.” He leaned over a bit, relaxing on his knees. “I tried to stop her but she kept going and man she’s fast.” 

Marinette and Adrien shared a worried glance. 

“Ladybug and Chat Noir haven’t shown up yet- and I can’t catch up to her or convince her to stay back. You guys are fast, right?” Nino looked frazzled. 

“Yup! We’ll go find her!” Adrien shot up, his sandwich dropping to the ground. Marinette followed suit. 

“It’ll be faster if we go out the back!” Marinette said, lying. Adrien nodded her head and followed as she took off, leaving Nino alone. They pushed open the door into the empty backspace of the school. 

“Spots on!” Marinette said, the pink light enveloping her. 

“Claws out!” Adrien near echoed, the green light covering him. The two nodded to each other before taking off, rushing towards where Alya and Nino said they were eating earlier.


	23. Twenty Three

“How far do you think the akuma has gotten?” Chat asked, running alongside Ladybug. 

“Shouldn’t be far. I think-” Ladybug said as they rounded a corner, spotting a young girl who couldn’t be older than 6 with a clear bag resting at her waist. Her outfit was covered in patches and looked designed by a child. She was chasing after a teenage girl who was screaming. Despite the little girl’s short legs, she was alarmingly fast. It didn’t take much to catch up to the teenager, the little girl throwing herself forward and latching onto the teenager’s arm, holding tight. 

“Your hair looks just like one of my dolls!” The little girl cried out, her eyes shut tight. The teenager screamed as she slowly shrunk down, smaller and smaller, until she was the size of a doll. The little girl grabbed the doll sized teenager and tucked her away in the clear bag. Ladybug’s eyes connected with the bag, noticing how full it was of various girls shrunken to doll size. 

“I can’t tell where the akuma is.” Ladybug scanned the little girl as she started skipping away at a normal pace, not yet noticing the two superheroes. 

“Let’s start with trying to get that bag away from her _without_ hurting anyone inside.” Chat Noir suggested, bumping his elbow against Ladybug’s side. 

“Okay. You know what to do?” Ladybug looked up to Chat Noir, who gave her a smirk that melted her heart.

“Of course, Bugaboo.” Chat winked, taking off down the street. The pet name that usually would have bothered Ladybug had taken on a new, less bothersome meaning. She shook off the feeling deep in her chest and used her yoyo to swing atop a low building. The little girl stopped skipping and turned around, finally hearing Chat Noir’s footsteps. 

“A kitty!” She smiled wide, then frowned. “You don’t look like any of my old dolls. I never had a boy doll.” She pursed her lips as she jumped out of Chat’s grasp. “But I do want your ring!” She suddenly dove for him, reaching out for his arm. He clicked his tongue and jumped away, much faster than her even with her akuma powers.

“Who said my ring was part of the deal?” He continued to dodge her attacks. His foot slipped as he noticed a particular ‘doll’ in the girl’s bag. It was Alya, clawing at the plastic of the bag. She was stuffed between many other girls, barely visible. The little girl saw her chance and dove for him, reaching her arm out for his ring. Chat had just enough time to rip his hand away, leaving his body vulnerable. She latched on to his hips, holding tight. Chat managed to ignore the absolutely terrifying feeling that shrinking down gave him and instead focused on the necklace he hadn’t yet noticed. It glowed bright as he shrunk. He spotted Ladybug standing on the rooftops above, ready to dive down.

“The necklace!” He called out as he shrank to the size of a doll, his voice growing quieter and quieter. 

“The neckl...?” Ladybug frowned, unable to hear the end. “The necklace!” Her eyes locked onto the girl’s necklace as she turned around, stuffing Chat Noir in her bag. Ladybug took a deep breath and dove down, using her yoyo to slow her fall. She landed just in front of the little girl, snapping the necklace off of her neck before she could react. The akuma fluttered out as the girl transformed back to normal, the people inside all growing back to their regular size. The bag broke open, a literal pile of people forming in the middle of the street. Ladybug frowned while trying to spot Chat Noir in the mess. She shook her head and captured the akuma, releasing the white butterfly out. She tossed her yoyo into the air in place of her unused lucky charm.

“Miraculous Ladybug!” She cried out, the comforting ladybugs spreading over the street and returning everyone to a standing position, no longer piled atop eachother. The clear bag reappeared around the little girl’s shoulders. 

“My lady.” Chat strolled over, smiling. 

“Hey kitty.” She said, impressed with her own confidence knowing full well who was under the mask. “How d-did being a doll feel?” And as soon as it came, it vanished. 

“Not good. Don’t want to talk about my organs shrinking.” He frowned, shuddering. Ladybug laughed before turning her head to look at the little girl sitting on the ground. She looked around, tears welling in her eyes. Ladybug stepped over, kneeling down in front of her. 

“Hey there, are you okay?” Ladybug asked, gently wiping away the tears. 

“N-no.” The girl sniffled. “My mommy said... my mommy said that my dolls got stolen and-” She looked as if more tears would spill over at any second. “I don’t know where I am!” She burst out, tears streaming down. Ladybug opened her mouth to speak but closed it as Chat knelt down beside her. 

“What’s your name?” He asked, gently placing a hand on the girl’s shoulder.

“Katie.” The girl said between sobs. 

“Who do you last remember being with, Katie?” Chat asked, compassion filling his eyes.

“My mommy and daddy.” She began to calm down. “They- they were picking me up from school and after my morning school was over and-” She paused, wiping at her nose. “I don’t know where I am.” 

“Do you know what school you go to?” 

“Ecole Prisse D'avennes” Katie looked up hopefully at Chat Noir.

“I think I know where that is.” Chat stood up and reached his hand out to Katie. “Do you want a piggy back ride there?”

“Yes please!” Katie suddenly smiled as she jumped to her feet. Chat Noir smiled and crouched down, letting Katie on his back. He caught sight of Ladybug as he stood back up, who had been looking at him in awe for some time. He winked at her, smiling at the blush he caused. 

“Would you care to join us, my lady?” He asked, supporting Katie’s legs with his hands. 

“S-sure.” Ladybug said, standing up. She briefly noticed Alya among the women standing around the street, not sure where to go after such an ordeal. Alya had her phone out and was clearly taking photos or filming. Ladybug desperately hoped that neither of them were too obvious. She took off after Chat, who had already started walking away. They eventually found Katie’s school and took her to the main office, finding her parents waiting there. They dropped Katie off before having a few words with her parents over if she was okay.

They took off, finding a secluded place near their school to detransform. “We make such a good team, in school and in battle.” Adrien smiled as he stretched his arms. Marinette blushed the colour of her now gone suit. 

“I didn’t know you were so good with kids.” She said, looking at the ground. 

“I’ve done quite a few photoshoots with kids somewhere around.” Adrien shrugged. “And they always seem to like me off the bat.” 

Marinette paused, thinking for a moment. “Are we... Are we going to let everyone else know that we’re together?”

“Do you mean Alya and Nino?” Adrien raised an eyebrow. “I don’t see why not.”

“Not just them.” Marinette shook her head. “I’m talking mostly about Chloe.” She cast a worried glance at Adrien. “She’ll tear me to shreds when she finds out.” She laughed nervously, trying to mask her genuine fear. 

“That wouldn’t happen.” Adrien shook his head. “I wouldn’t let anyone hurt my lady.” He smiled, stepping closer to Marinette. She felt herself grow glad they were still in an empty alleyway, because if anyone were there to see just how close they were she was sure she would die of embarrassment. 

“You wouldn’t?” Marinette egged him on a little, moving closer herself. 

“Never.” Adrien breathed out, his hand brushing her jaw. Marinette looked up, leaning her head forward. She was sure they would kiss again now. 

That is, if the bell hadn’t rung just then.

“And that would be the end of lunch.” Adrien stepped back a little, knowing they didn’t have much time to get to class. Marinette slammed her hand against her forehead. 

“We left our bags in the courtyard. I hope no one stole anything.”

“I doubt it. And even if they did there are cameras in the courtyard.” He reached out and grabbed Marinette’s hand, leading her out of the alleyway. “We would catch the bad guy as Marinette and Adrien this time.” They made their way into the school, grabbing their not stolen bags and rushing up to class. 

\--------------------------------------------------

“This is so _embarrassing_!” Marinette groaned, dragging her hand down her face. “Look at this, Tikki!” She rolled back her desk chair a little, cueing Tikki to fly over and get a look at her computer screen.

“It’s not that bad Marinette. I doubt anyone has noticed.” Tikki frowned. 

“Not yet! But what if someone does!”

“Hmm.” Tikki considered. The photos admittedly were pretty obvious when you knew what to look for. Alya had gotten less incriminating shots of Ladybug talking to Katie, but also got some of her looking up at Chat Noir in genuine awe. Her eyes were wide with admiration and her mouth was slightly open.

How much more obvious could she get?

“What if someone saw Adrien and I holding hands today after lunch and then sees this and then-” Marinette spiralled. 

“That’s not going to happen. No one even noticed you two holding hands, otherwise I’m sure you would have heard something from someone.” Tikki shook her head. 

“It’s still not good, Tikki.” Marinette closed the tab, sick of looking at herself like that.

On the other side of the coin, Adrien adored these pictures. 

He couldn’t bring himself to close the tab that displayed the pictures of Ladybug looking at him like _that_. She was looking at him like he used to look at her. Finally! He didn’t really care if these pictures may be obvious, it was much more important to him to stare at it for as long as he humanly could, memorizing every pixel. 

Plagg was a little less than amused. “You’re never going to get your homework done if you keep that up.” 

“Since when do you care about homework?” Adrien asked, not taking his eyes away from the screen.

“Since you started doing stuff like _that_.” Plagg frowned in disgust. “I’ve never understood you humans and your lack of subtlety.” Plagg sniffed, turning his nose upwards. “There’s an art to it, you know.” 

“It’s all worked out for me being obvious, Plagg.” Adrien rolled his eyes. 

“It still disgusts me.” Plagg said, acting as if he wasn’t at least a little happy for Adrien.


	24. Twenty Four

“So... why exactly did you both rush us here?” Alya asked, sipping on her milkshake. 

“I’m doubling that.” Nino nodded his head, sitting beside Alya. Marinette rubbed her hands together nervously under the table, her nerves fried. Adrien glanced over from beside her, noticing her frantic motions. He reached over under the table and rested his hand over hers, calming her. The four teenagers sat in a booth at the same milkshake parlor they had been at a couple weeks ago. Marinette and Adrien had ushered Alya and Nino respectively here after school, not giving a clue as to why. 

“Okay... Um... W-we have something to te-” Marinette started to say, her stuttering taking over her words. She took a breath, trying to steady herself to no avail. She glanced up at Adrien, begging for help. He cleared his throat. 

“We brought you both here to tell you something before we tell anyone else.” Adrien said, looking back and forth Alya and Nino. He took a breath, unnerved by Alya’s widened eyes. It looked like she was doing her best to keep herself quiet, but all it was accomplishing was making her shake a little bit. “Marinette and I are dating.” He said, waiting for a reaction. 

But all he got was silence. 

Marinette nervously looked at her milkshake, which she had been too anxious to drink any of. The silence was worse than her stuttering, and she couldn’t take it. She opened her mouth to speak. 

“ _Finally_.” Alya said instead. Adrien raised his eyebrows. “Don’t look at me like that. It’s taken you two long enough.” Alya waved him off. 

“I gotta say I agree.” Nino nodded his head approvingly. “Adrien, dude. You were always so oblivious.” Adrien frowned. 

“I’m not the only oblviv-” He started to say, cut off by Marinette squeezing his hand. _Hard._ He immediately understood. When was Marinette oblivious? He was, of course, thinking about her obliviousness towards Chat Noir. He coughed, covering up his sudden stop. “Anyways. We wanted to let you both know.”

“So how did it happen?” Alya inquired, leaning in. Marinette and Adrien shared a worried look. They couldn’t exactly tell her that they had found out their superhero identities and that’s what led to their pairing. “Was it the project?”

“Yup!” Marinette rushed out, nodding her head frantically. Adrien caught on.

“We just got really close while working on the project.” Adrien nodded his head, less frantically than his counterpart. 

“Who confessed to who?” Alya said, trying to dig up all of the details. 

This was one question they were not so coordinated to answer. 

There was a silence before Marinette spoke. “I did.” She blurted out.

Alya raised her eyebrows. “You worked up the courage?” 

“Yup! You know me! Confidence and all.” Marinette smiled, not doing much to hide her nerves. She knew full well Alya would prod, but she didn’t realize she would dig this deep.

“Right...” She looked at Nino briefly. “Have you guys done it?” 

Adrien choked on his milkshake. Marinette’s face went red. “It?” She squeaked out. 

“I obviously meant kiss, you weirdos.” Alya rolled her eyes. 

“We have.” Adrien said, recovering his composure. He figured it was better to just be straight on this one with Alya, since she would keep digging until she found out. 

“Get it, girl.” Alya reached across the table and nudged Marinette’s arm.

“Stop it.” Marinette blushed, shoving Alya back. The faint pop music that had been playing in the background was replaced with a loud news station. 

“ _Urgent alert for the Le Marais area. An unidentified figure has been spotted going from building to building, short circuiting electrical boards and electrocuting anyone who stands in their way. The police urge civilians to stay indoors and ensure they’re locked in. Stay tuned for further information._ ” The voice said from the radio, static occasionally taking over. It suddenly switched back to faint pop music. 

“That sounds like-” Nino frowned.

“An akuma!” Alya cut in, jumping up. “I need to get over to Le Marais.” 

“Are you crazy?” Nino blurted out, looking frantic. “After what happened last time you shouldn’t be anywhere near an akuma! And this one sounds seriously dangerous.” 

“He’s right, Alya.” Adrien nodded his head. 

“Alya, please just sit back down.” Marinette pleaded, her focus more on keeping Alya safe than getting out of there. She would find an excuse later. 

“And miss this opportunity for the LadyBlog? No way.” Alya shook her head, pulling out her phone. “I’ll see you guys later!” She took off, pushing out of the parlor. Adrien and Marinette looked to Nino.

“You should get home. There’s not much we can do at this point, it’s better to let Ladybug and Chat Noir keep her safe.” Adrien stood up. “Marinette and I need to go, too. We... uh...” Adrien struggled to find an excuse. 

“We’re having dinner with my parents.” She cut in, standing up to latch onto Adrien’s arm. 

“Alright.” Nino sighed, standing up as well. “Have fun, lovebirds.” He teased, patting Adrien’s shoulder as he passed. He left the parlor, leaving Adrien and Marinette alone at the booth. 

“We need to get there fast.” Marinette said urgently, dragging Adrien out of the parlor and onto the street. “I don’t think getting electrocuted would do much good for Alya’s mind, even after I fix everything.” 

“You’re right.” Adrien said as they turned into the secluded back lot behind the parlor. The pair transformed and took off, getting to the point of the attack as fast as they could. Half of the neighbourhood’s building’s lights were shut off, the other half still on. Ladybug and Chat Noir glanced around, trying to find which house or apartment the akuma had gotten off to. They had their answer in the form of a nearby apartment losing its light, the windows going dark. 

They rushed inside, hiding in the lobby. The akuma was bound to make their way back through the lobby, regardless of where the power was localized in the building. After a few minutes, a hooded figure emerged from the basement stairwell. There was a faint glow emerging from their black cloak. They moved as if they were floating, their face covered in darkness. They pushed open the door and slid out, not having noticed Ladybug or Chat Noir. Chat Noir stood up and dove for the villain, knocking into them.

“I have to ask, did you pay for that electricity bill?” Chat asked, pinning the form down. They struggled under his grasp. 

“You don’t know what power I hold...” The figure growled before kicking Chat’s abdomen, stunning him. His grip loosened and the figure slipped away, floating backwards. 

Chat stood up, gripping his stomach for a moment. He shook his head, smirking. “I doubt that you’re holding much under that cloak.” 

“Would you like to see?” The figure’s cloak opened up around their midsection as if wind was blowing only there. An orb of energy grew, glowing brighter and brighter. The figure lunged towards Chat Noir far too fast for him to react. Ladybug, however, had been on the ready to attack. She lunged out from the apartment at the same time as the figure, knocking into Chat Noir. Her adrenaline had spiked at seeing him in potential danger. The two superheroes, rolled to the ground. Ladybug stood up as fast as she could, sensing the figure approaching. Suddenly, it stopped. Ladybug glanced behind herself, following the direction the figure faced.

Alya stood behind a car, her phone poking over the edge. “Ah. An onlooker who stands in my way.” The figure said, rushing past Ladybug and Chat Noir. They released the energy they had made for Chat Noir towards Alya, connecting with her. Her body tensed up, her eyes going wide before she dropped to the ground, twitching. Ladybug did everything in her power not to scream as she watched her best friend twitch helplessly on the road. 

Chat Noir’s shock wore off faster. He rushed towards the figure, who stood still, electricity emitting from their cloak. “Cataclysm!” He yelled out, grabbing onto the back of the cloak. It crumbled over the figure’s shoulders, revealing a black haired woman. Thankfully, this stopped the electricity from being emitted. And to his relief, the akuma fluttered out of the ashes. Ladybug finally recovered from her shock, running towards the akuma and capturing it, purifying it. She couldn’t take her eyes off of Alya’s lifeless form on the ground as the woman returned to normal, the crumbled cloak turning back into a regular dark jacket around the woman’s shoulders. 

Ladybug threw her yoyo into the air, returning the lights to the surrounding buildings. She watched as Alya sat back up, her consciousness returned. As soon as her yoyo dropped back down, her mission was clear in her mind. She marched towards Alya and crouched down in front of her. “Alya, right?” She was hiding the fear she felt deep down from just watching Alya nearly die. 

“Yes! Can I get an interview?” Alya asked, eyes hopeful. She was acting as if she hadn’t just had electricity coursing through her body. 

“No. Sorry. I need to talk to you about how you put yourself in danger.” Ladybug scolded. “Had Chat Noir and had not defeated the akuma, you very well could have died.”

Alya’s eyes widened, the memory of electricity returning. “R-right.” Her usual confidence was gone. 

“When there’s an akuma attack, at the very least stay indoors behind a window, or even better, hide entirely. Don’t come to the place of an attack if you’re not there to begin with.” Ladybug stood back up. 

“Okay.” Alya said, quietly. 

“Are you okay?” Ladybug asked, remembering her concern. 

“I think I’m fine.” Alya nodded her head, still sitting down. 

“Alright. Remember to rest up.” Ladybug stepped back, looking behind to see Chat Noir talking to the akuma victim as usual. She heard his ring let off a beep as he backed away. He passed by Ladybug, nodding his head to her. 

“See you _soon_ , Bugaboo.” Chat Noir winked as he took off, rounding a corner and vanishing. Ladybug understood what he implied and followed suit, but in a different direction so as not to raise suspicion. She used her yoyo to pull herself up to a rooftop, getting herself to a vantage point so she could see Chat Noir vanish again into an alleyway. She hopped over the street onto a rooftop adjacent to the alleyway and dropped down just as Chat Noir transformed back into Adrien. 

“That was horrifying.” Adrien breathed out, watching Ladybug detransform. 

“She needs to stop running straight into danger.” Marinette commented, pulling a macaroon out from her bag and handing it up to Tikki. 

“You were talking to her about that, right?” Adrien asked, watching Tikki nibble at the macaroon. Plagg floated up to hover beside her as she ate.

“Yeah. If she’s going to listen to anyone, it would probably be Ladybug.” Marinette sighed, a little annoyed. “I don’t think I’m ever going to get the visual of her falling to the ground out of my head.” Marinette covered her eyes with her hand, feeling mentally exhausted. Her breath caught in her throat as Adrien wrapped his arms around her. 

“On the Brightside, I don’t think you’ll ever have to see that happen to her again.” He said quietly into her ear. 

“I hope not.” Marinette said breathily into his chest. They stood close together for a few moments before Adrien pulled back, his hands holding onto Marinette’s shoulders.

“Were you by any chance at all serious about having dinner with your parents?” He asked, looking hopefully into Marinette’s eyes. “I know it was just an excuse, and I don’t mean tonight, of course. But... in the future?”

“Of course!” Marinette said, her eyes wide. “If you want to, I mean.” She looked down bashfully. 

“I would love to.” Adrien smiled and gently lifted her face to look up at him. “I don’t get to eat dinner with my dad very often, but I would love a good family dinner.” 

“I’ll talk to my parents about it, but I think any night would work with us.” She smiled up at him.

“Alright, I’ll let you know when I’m free.” He kissed her cheek and let go of her shoulders, stepping back. “I’m definetly already late for my piano lesson, so I need to go.” He gave Marinette a brief smile before looking up to Plagg, who was nibbling on Tikki’s macaron. “C’mon, Plagg.” 

“Alright, alright.” Plagg sighed, finishing off his chunk of mararon. He floated down into Adrien’s jacket, tucking himself away.

“I’ll see you tomorrow in class, Marinette.” Adrien blew her a kiss before taking off, leaving her alone with Tikki. Thankfully, he was gone before the blush creeped over Marinette’s face.

“That was cute.” Tikki rested on Marinette’s shoulder. “He’s very sweet.”

“I know.” Marinette said, her voice faint.


	25. Twenty Five

“Um... Chloe?” Sabrina said meekly, staring down at her phone. “I don’t mean to alarm you... but...” 

“Out with it already, Sabrina.” Chloe frowned, carefully applying a glossy coat to her nails. 

“Jackie from Mme. Mendeliev’s class told Ellie who told Amanda who just texted me saying she saw Adrien and Marinette holding hands after lunch yesterday.” Sabrina rushed out, worried over Chloe’s reaction. 

“That’s funny.” Chloe closed the bottle of her nail polish and started waving her hands back and forth. “I didn’t know you were funny, Sabrina.” 

“I’m serious. Jackie is a credible source!” Sabrina clicked her phone off and set it down on the table in front of her. She anxiously picked at the food made by Mayor Bourgeois’ hotel staff. 

Chloe was silent for a moment. “That is true. And outrageous.” She stood up. “We’re going back to school.”

“Now? But I haven’t gotten to eat my lunch.” Sabrina pouted, looking sadly at her plate. She stood up as soon as she noticed Chloe’s scowl, not wanting to ensue her wrath. The two girls made their way through the lobby of the hotel and into one of Chloe’s many valet cars. They were dropped off at school, plenty of time still left in lunch. “What are we doing?” Sabrina trailed behind Chloe as she marched into the school, clearly with a mission.

“We’re going to ask around. Talk to Jackie.” Chloe’s eyes were narrowed as she stormed through the busy courtyard. 

Just a few blocks away, Adrien and Marinette sat in Marinette’s living room, finishing off their homemade sandwiches. “Thanks, Marinette.” Adrien smiled, putting down his empty plate.

“For what?” Marinette raised her eyebrows, stilling biting at her sandwich. 

“For having me over and making these with me.” Adrien pulled out his phone and frowned down at it.

“What’s wrong?” Marinette furrowed her brows and put her plate down.

“Nino says Chloe is on a rampage at school right now, which is weird because she usually doesn’t spent lunch at school.”Adrien glanced up at Marinette.

“Did he say why?”

“No, he said he doesn’t want to get close to her when she’s practically yelling at anyone nearby.” Adrien slipped his phone into his pocket. “It’s weird, but I wouldn’t worry about it.” He shrugged.

“Alright, if you say so.” Marinette frowned a little. She couldn’t help but worry about Chloe’s sudden rage. While it was true that Chloe had a flair for the dramatic, yelling at anyone who approached her was a little out of character, even for her. 

“When do you think we should head back?” Adrien asked, watching Marinette finish off her sandwich.

“Hmm.” Marinette glanced at the clock. “We should probably start packing up now.” She grabbed their plates and walked over to the sink, running water over them. Adrien came up from behind and passed a washcloth to her. She smiled to him as she took it and quickly scrubbed over the plates. She found herself glancing behind herself as Adrien walked back over to her living room and stacked their cups, picking them up. She couldn’t help but imagine her life being like this. Being with _Adrien_. She sheer thought of owning a house with him, waking up every day with him, having _children with him_ , was enough to send a blush over her cheeks. 

His arm slipping around her shoulder did nothing to help calm the blush. She took the glasses from where he put them down and filled them with water, cleaning them of the soda that had once filled them. “D-did you get your bag?” Marinette asked, their proximity hiking up her nerves. 

“Nope, but I’ll go grab it now.” Adrien pulled his arm away and slid back into the living room. He zipped up his bag and grabbed Marinette’s as she finished drying the plates and cups off. The two made their way downstairs holding hands, passing through the empty bakery kitchen much to Marinette’s relief. She hadn’t yet told her parents about the new relationship, and she would just _die_ if they figured it out when Adrien was around. 

“Hello, Marinette.” Sabine said, appearing out of _nowhere_. For being known as the hero of luck, Marinette was terribly unlucky. “Oh! And Adrien!” She looked surprised. 

“Hi, Mama.” Marinette held back a groan. She let go of Adrien’s hand as subtly as she could. But of course, not subtly enough. Sabine’s eyes darted down just as their hands split, her eyes narrowing. 

“How did your presentation go?” She looked back up to Marinette, a glimmer in her eyes. “You were Romeo and Juliet, right? You two must have been so cute together.” 

“ _Mama._ ” Marinette’s smile grew tight and forced, really not wanting this to happen now. “We need to get back to school now.” 

“Did you two eat lunch together?” Sabine asked, completely ignoring her daughter.

“We did. Marinette and I made sandwiches.” Adrien smiled, not appearing to notice the tension between Marinette and Sabine. 

“Ah, yes. Marinette is quite good at cooking. She’ll make a lovely wife one day.” Sabine looked back and forth between the two, smugness coating her face. Marinette’s face went bright red, all her blood rushing up. 

“Okay! Bye Mama!” Marinette forced out, grabbing Adrien’s arm and spinning around, rushing out of the bakery and into the street. 

“Your mom is really nice.” Adrien said, walking beside Marinette. 

“She sure is.” Marinette sighed. She dreaded the conversation she knew would have to happen when she got home that night. It wasn’t that her parents would disapprove, no. It was quite the opposite. They would obsess over it. Bring it up whenever they could. Constantly be suggesting her and Adrien get married one day despite their youth. She was well aware this wasn’t a real issue, as many parents don’t even let their children date. However this still felt like an annoyance to her.

Adrien and Marinette walked into the courtyard of their school, their hands clasped together once again. Marinette glanced up to Adrien, opening her mouth to speak before she was cut off by a shrill voice. “ _Ma-rin-ette._ ” Chloe near shrieked as she stormed towards Marinette from across the courtyard, everyone in the surrounding space falling silent. 

“Chloe?” Marinette raised her eyebrows, watching Chloe approach. “What do you-” She was stopped by Chloe’s hand, slapping across Marinette’s face. 

“How _dare_ you?” Chloe’s eyes were filled with uncontrolled rage. 

“Chloe!” Adrien’s eyebrows shot up, confusion painting his face. “What are you-” 

“Quiet!” She snapped, crazy eyes darting to Adrien before landing back onto Marinette who was rubbing her cheek. 

“What’s wrong with you?” Marinette’s eyes were wide in shock as she pulled her other hand away from Adrien’s, lifting it to her chest.

“You!” Chloe’s eyes were brimming with tears. “He chose you!” She took a deep breath and balled up her fists. “You’re worthless! You don’t deserve him!” 

“Are you talking about...” Marinette squinted, realization dawning over her. 

Chloe refused to look back at Adrien. “You... You’re so much worse than me! You’re-”

“That’s _enough,_ Chloe.” Adrien’s voice was unnervingly strict, causing Chloe to freeze in place. He channelled his father’s cold demeanour in an effort to control the situation. “Your tantrum isn’t going to get you anywhere.”

“But... But...” She sputtered and finally looked up at him, tears threatening to spill over. 

“You’re senselessly assaulting Marinette both verbally _and physically_. You have to know that isn’t okay.” He scolded her. Marinette looked up at him in awe as he defended her. “I don’t know what you wanted to accomplish here.”

“Adrikins...” Chloe said, her voice barely a whisper. Adrien grabbed Marinette’s hand and pulled her away, leaving Chloe standing alone. He led Marinette into the locker room and sat her down on one of the benches. 

“Are you okay?” He asked, concern filling his eyes. Marinette nodded her head a little, still holding a hand to her cheek. 

“Y-yeah. I’m just a little shaken up is all.” Marinette frowned a little. Adrien mirrored her expression and reached out, gently pulling her hand away from her face. There was a very noticeable red mark in the blurry shape of a hand. 

“She was wearing a ring, wasn’t she?” Adrien carefully ran his finger along an area that was particularly red, a faint cut in the middle. 

“It felt like she was.” Marinette looked down at her lap, her untouched cheek growing red from the contact. Adrien tested the waters of holding his hand lightly against her jaw, his thumb brushing the corner of her mouth.

“You know what she said isn’t true, right?” Adrien said softy, gently moving his thumb back and forth. 

“...Yeah.” Marinette said quietly, still looking at her lap. “I know.”

“Good.” Adrien’s eyes shifted to her lips, then back up to her eyes. “Hey.”

Marinette finally looked at him, raising an eyebrow in a silent question. 

“Do you want me to kiss it better?” Adrien smirked, looking awfully smug.

“I wouldn’t be opposed...” Marinette sighed, pretending to be annoyed. Adrien leaned in and kissed her lips before gently kissing her cheek, earning a hiss from Marinette. 

“Sorry.” He apologised before pulling back, holding his hand on her jaw. 

“I-it’s okay. It just stings a little is all.” Marinette gave him a weak smile, trying not to move her cheeks too much.

“Maybe we should get you some ice before class starts.” Adrien pulled out his phone and checked the time. “We have a few minutes, and I’m sure it wouldn’t be the end of the world if we were a few moments late to class considering the circumstances.” 

“Oh, I don’t think I need an ice pack.” Marinette shook her head a little. 

“Marinette, the cut her ring left doesn’t look like it’s going to get better quickly on its own. If anything it’s just going to swell up more.” He squinted, taking a closer look at the scratch. “Actually, you might want a bandage for that. It’s starting to bleed a little.”

“It’s bleeding?” Marinette reached up and brushed her hand over her cheek, colliding a little with Adrien’s hand. She pulled it away and looked at the small amount of blood smeared across her finger. 

“She really hit you hard, huh?”

“Yeah. I didn’t realize she was so strong.” Marinette watched as Adrien pulled his hand away, letting it fall to his side. 

“I guess that’s what the best self defence classes money can pay for gets you.” Adrien shrugged. “But we really should get you something for that.” Adrien offered his hand, helping Marinette to stand up. 

“I doubt she’ll get in trouble for that.” Marinette deflated a little, knowing it would be futile to even try going to administration. 

“You’re probably right.” Adrien frowned as he pushed open the locker room doors. “I think that’s the first time I’ve ever had to yell at Chloe.” 

“That’s surprising.” Marinette said dryly. 

“I know she’s a lot to handle, and she was completely out of line today, but she wasn’t always this way.” Adrien said as the bell rang and students flooded into their classrooms. “She was nicer when we were younger. Not the nicest, but still. She wasn’t like _this_.” Adrien sighed. “But something changed when her mom got carried up in the fashion industry. Now she doesn’t see her often and... Maybe that’s why she’s like this now.”

Adrien looked down to see Marinette frowning softly. “Again, I’m not excusing her behaviour. I’m just saying that I think it’s sad how things have turned out for her.” He pushed open the infirmary doors and flagged down the nurse from across the room.


	26. Twenty Six

Marinette looked around herself before speaking, making sure no one was within earshot. “So... have you talked to your kwami about the akuma attacks?” 

“A little bit, but Plagg isn’t exactly the type to tell me what’s happening.” Adrien sighed, flipping through his math textbook. He landed on a page and held it down with his hand, stopping the wind from blowing it. Marinette could vaguely make out a disgruntled noise emanating from inside Adrien’s jacket. “What about yours? Did she say anything?” 

“Yeah. Tikki said that while it’s good for us that the akuma attacks have slowed down, it’s probably a bad sign for his kwami.” Marinette skimmed over the textbook from Adrien’s shoulder. She kept her voice low while a family passed by their park bench. 

“Can we do anything about it?” Adrien looked up, worry in his eyes. He remembered how worn down Plagg had become while there were an excess of akuma attacks, and could only imagine how tough that was (and maybe still was) on Hawkmoth’s kwami. 

“No. Unless we can find Hawkmoth, that is.” Marinette said. 

“Well. That just gives us more motivation to defeat him.” Adrien smiled bittersweetly. “But on the bright side, Plagg is doing much better.” 

“I’d be doing better if I had more cheese. This boy starves me.” Plagg said, sticking his hand out of Adrien’s jacket. 

“And Tikki is doing well now too.” Marinette gently patted her purse. 

“How is your cheek?” Adrien asked, leaning forward to try and see the other side of Marinette’s face.

“My cheek-? Oh.” Marinette instinctively reached up to the faint line running across her cheek. “It looked pretty healed this morning. It’s a miracle what 2 days can do.” 

“You’re right. I can barely see it now.” Adrien reached out and pulled her head to face him more, getting a good look.

“I hope it doesn’t scar.”

“Would it be such a bad thing? It would give you a tough look that every superhero needs.” Adrien smiled as he ran his finger along the cut. 

“Then where’s yours, Mr. Superhero?” Marinette joked, scanning his flawless skin. 

“If it weren’t for my modelling career I would have gotten a very intimidating scar a long time ago.” Adrien pulled his hand away and looked back down at his textbook. 

“Being a model stops you from getting scars?” She raised an eyebrow.

“No, no. But it gives me plenty motivation to avoid one. Imagine all of the makeup they would have to slather over it during photoshoots.” Adrien shuddered. 

“Oh how terrible.”

“Speaking of photoshoots... Do you remember when I invited you to come to one?” Adrien glanced up to Marinette.

“Yeah, what about it?” Marinette replied. How could she forget? Adrien Agreste had hypothetically invited her somewhere. Of course, you know, before he became her boyfriend. 

“I have one tomorrow that’s going to be particularly boring. If you came it would be more than bearable.” He smiled at her. 

“Of course! I would love to.” Marinette said eagerly. 

“I’ll pick you up around noon tomorrow then.”

“Sounds good.” Marinette watched Adrien as he read over his textbook, flipping the pages occasionally. Even sitting beside him, their hands nearly touching, she couldn’t believe he was her _boyfriend_ and Chat Noir. Of course knowing his secret identity now made her feel like an utter idiot. How could she not notice? Same colour hair, green eyes, same height, same build, etc. It’s as if she had been blind. 

“What is taking Alya and Nino so long?” Marinette said after a while, snapping out of her Adrien-doing-homework induced trance. 

“I don’t know. They’re not usually the late ones.” Adrien looked up and frowned. “You usually are.” He teasingly tapped her nose. 

“Hey! I have an excuse!” Marinette gently batted his finger away. “A superhero doesn’t have a schedule.”

“You know it’s not Ladybug related things every time... Otherwise I would be just as late as you.” He shook his head. 

“Well...” Marinette struggled for a moment. “Okay. Fine.” She crossed her arms and pretended to sulk. 

“Oh don’t look so sour.” Adrien wrapped his arms around her shoulders and pulled her closer. Her sour expression melted away and was replaced with a warm blush as her head rested against his shoulders. She gently closed her eyes, relaxing as Adrien went back to reading over his textbook.

“Hey, lovebirds.” Alya said, snapping Marinette’s eyes open. “Can you two split apart for long enough to get to the restaurant?”

“Of course.” Adrien said, closing his book and standing up. Marinette followed suit, avoiding eye contact with Alya.

“Dude, Is that your math textbook? On a Saturday?” Nino raised his eyebrows, watching Adrien slip the textbook into his bag.

“Yeah.” Adrien sighed. “I didn’t have time to get it done after school tomorrow, so I have to do it today.” He looked at Nino and squinted his eyes. “I had plenty of time, too. What took you guys so long?”

“I- uh.” Nino stuttered, coughing. Alya shifted around uncomfortably a bit. Marinette scanned Alya over, her eyes growing wide as she noticed the smudged lip gloss around Alya’s lips. Her eyes shot to Nino, where she quickly caught sight of glossy spots around his lips and neck. 

“How scandalous!” Marinette imitated Alya, her mouth shaped in an exaggerated ‘ _o_ ’. “Tell me everything, Alya.” She leaned forward smugly. 

“Everything about what?” Adrien frowned, not catching on. 

“Cut it out, Marinette.” Alya looked away, trying to hide her unusual blush. 

“ _Alya..._ ” Marinette dragged out, desperately wanting to give her friend a taste of her own medicine. 

“Would you look at the time?” Alya shot Nino a desperate look.

“uh- oh!” Nino caught on, pulling out his phone. “We’re going to miss the lunch meal deal times if we don’t hurry up.” Nino pointed at his phone, nodding his head. 

“They have meal deals?” Adrien furrowed his brows. 

“They do! Let’s go!” Alya grabbed Nino and Adrien’s arms, dragging them away. Marinette laughed as she followed behind, enjoying catching Alya off guard for once.


	27. Twenty Seven

Adrien’s car rolled to a stop, his bodyguard popping the driver door open and stepping out before opening Adrien’s door. The teenager slid out and held his hand out for Marinette as she slid across the seats and out of the door herself. The Bodygurard locked the car and began walking into the park without a word.

Adrien notched his elbow out, letting Marinette take hold as they followed the bodyguard. “So... There’s something I didn’t tell you.” Adrien looked at Marinette, a very Chat Noir-esque smile spread over his face.

“What is it?” Marinette looked up, a little worried over his expression.

“This photoshoot isn’t a solo shoot.”

“Okay? I don’t see how you posing with someone else is something I would need to know.” Marinette’s confused expression fell as realization dawned over her. “Oh. You don’t mean-”

“Of course I do.” Adrien grinned.

“Me?” Marinette squeaked out, anxiety filling her veins. “But you didn’t- I’m not prepared to be in a photo shoot. I don’t have any makeup on, I’m not wearing anything fit for a photoshoot, and I’m not a model.”

“A, you don’t need makeup, you look perfect now.” Adrien said, lightly tapping her nose. “B, the photographer has clothes from my father’s new line ready for you, and C, you look plenty like a model to me.”

“Adrien... I can’t.” Marinette frowned.

“It’s too late now. When Nathalie told me this would be a duo’s photoshoot last Thursday I suggested you.”

“And everyone was okay with that? Your father thought it was okay for someone who isn’t a model to be in one of his photoshoots?” Marinette’s eyes squinted in disbelief.

“Well... Not at first. But I did remind him that you designed the hat that won his contest a while back, and the idea of a young, up and coming fashion designer could be in one of his photoshoots was plenty enough to convince him.” Adrien looked proud of himself.

Marinette was speechless. Gabriel Agreste thought she was an up and coming fashion designer? _And_ she would be in a photoshoot with Adrien? This was all far too much to take in. She was snapped out of her thoughts by a screaming match between a couple nearby.

“You...” A woman yelled, tearing at her own hair. “You slept with Caroline?”

“Baby, it was a one time thing.” The man standing in front of her said, reaching out for her arm. She slapped him away.

“That’s one too many times!” She thrust her fists down to her sides, shaking. “I can’t believe you!” Tears began to spill over her eyes. The man grabbed her arm and forcefully pulled her closer, sneering.

“Don’t be naive, Madeline.” His voice grew lower, barely audible to Marinette and Adrien who had slowed down without realizing it. "You know you can't do better than me."

Madeline tried jerking her arm away to no avail. Marinette looked at Adrien with a look of urgency. He nodded his head knowingly before reaching forward and tapping on his bodyguard’s shoulder. “That lady needs help.” Adrien pointed to the couple, drawing the large man’s attention to the scene. He grunted and walked over, the man’s grip loosening on the woman as the bodyguard approached. She took her opportunity to slip out of his grasp and run, yelling all the while.

“Madeline!” The man began to run after her, but was stopped by the bodyguard who stepped in front of him. He grunted, blocking the man’s path. The man huffed out air and stormed off the other direction, dwarfed by the gorilla like bodyguard.

“That could end up being an akuma situation.” Marinette said quietly, watching as the Bodyguard walked back.

“If we’re lucky, Hawkmoth will still be out of commission for today.” Adrien said under his breath as they resumed their path to the photoshoot.

“Ah! Adrien!” The Photographer said, smiling as the group approached. “I see you’ve brought your lovely lady along.” He nodded towards Marinette. “Your clothing is in that tent over there. You can change in there as well.” The Photographer pointing towards a temporary tent set up in the grass.

Adrien led Marinette over and walked in, the pair stepping behind separate dividers. Marinette quickly (and a little uncomfortably) stripped down and pulled out the clothes from the gray bag hanging before her. She pulled the dress on, which luckily fit near perfect. It was a classy yet casual dress that she could imagine a high end fashionista wearing on a day out. She stepped out from the divider at the same time as Adrien, who wore an equally classy yet casual outfit that fit him even better than Marinette’s dress fit her.

“You look great.” Adrien said, looking her over.

“Thanks.” Marinette smiled. They made their way back to the photographer, who was fiddling with his camera.

“Good, good.” The Photographer clapped his hands together and stepped away from the camera. “We’re going to start with some high contact poses then move onto more low contact poses. Sound good?”

“Yup. Are you ready, Marinette?” Adrien looked at Marinette, who nodded her head.

“Fantastic. Adrien... You stand here.” The photographer guided Adrien to a small ledge, checking over his hair to ensure it fell perfectly. Once satisfied, he turned to Marinette and studied her briefly. “Young Lady... Marinette, right?” She nodded her head in response. “Hmm... Would you mind taking your pigtails out?”

“Oh- Sure.” Marinette tugged her elastics out of her hair and ran her fingers through, straightening it out.

“Now, stand here beside Adrien.” He moved her closer to Adrien, taking a step back and considering. “Adrien, put your arm around her waist.” Adrien did as directed, wrapping his arm around Marinette. “Pull closer. Look like you’re on a date around town.”

The two teens adjusted to meet the photographer’s desires. He began snapping a few pictures, giving directions to change poses every few shots. Adrien lightly dipped Marinette, smiling softly. A crash started Adrien, nearly dropping her in his surprise. The pair looked behind them, dread washing over them both as a woman wearing a dress billowing despite the lack of wind snatched various objects from a couple walking around the park, smashing them on the ground.

“It’s all lies! He’s only lying to you!” The woman said, grabbing on to the arm of a girl attempting to flee. “He doesn’t love you. Trust me.” Her hand gripped the girl arm, nails digging into the skin. The man accompanying the girl tried tearing the woman away to no avail. The girl slowly stopped struggling, her arms going slack as the woman let her go. She turned to the man, anger mixed with confusion filling her eyes.

“I... I never thought you would... I trusted you!” The girl cried out, shoving the man back. She began thrusting her fists against his chest.

“No relationship is truly good.” The woman clicked her tongue before scanning the park, most people having already fled the area. Her eyes landed on Adrien and Marinette, who still stood close together. “You two look _in denial_ ” She yelled from across the park, sneering. She began to rush over.

Adrien’s bodyguard approached Adrien and Marinette stepping between them and the woman. Adrien grabbed Marinette’s hand and pulled her away, rushing out of the park while his bodyguard blocked the woman for as long as possible. The pair ducked into a public restroom, locking the door behind them. “I guess our luck ran out. You called it.” Adrien sighed, Plagg shooting out of one of his pockets.

“Unfortunately I did.” Marinette said as Tikki popped out of her skirt. “Spots on!” Tikki shot into her earrings, transforming her.

“Claws out!” Adrien called out, sucking Plagg into his ring. The leather suit appeared over Adrien, rolling his shoulders once fully transformed. The superhero duo burst out of the restroom, rushing back to where the woman had been attacking. She had latched onto another woman, yet to have fled the park. The trapped woman's terrified expression morphed into that of sadness and anger, her struggling coming to an end. Ladybug threw her yoyo towards the scene and wrapped it around the akuma's arm, ripping it away from the other woman. The akuma turned, around, fury rolling over her expression.

“Ladybug and Chat Noir! What pitiful circumstances to meet!” The woman shrieked, her face finally clear to Marinette. Mascara ran down her cheeks, watered down by tears. “Are the rumours true? Do tell me if you’re a couple ignorant to your inner demons.” She dragged her free hand down her face, her pre smudged makeup nor budging under her palm. Ladybug caught the faint glimmer of a blackened ring on her left hand.

“Say if we were together, how would it be any of your business?” Chat Noir extended his staff as the woman rushed forward, Ladybug's string falling slack as she came closer, and swung it at her. She dodged the staff and dove straight for Ladybug.

“Everything is the business of Manipulator!” She reached her arm out, continuing her path for Ladybug. “Now let’s see how you truly feel about your partner against crime!” Ladybug barely managed to pull her yoyo back together and toss it forward wrapping it around Manipulator's wrist before she reached Ladybug's arm. Ladybug ripped at the yoyo, causing the Woman to stumble forward. “You can’t stop me that easily! A broken heart never tires, and soon you'll understand.” She twisted her hand to grip the string, tugging it gently. She looked into Ladybug’s eyes and spoke softly. “I would never hurt you, Ladybug.”

Ladybug felt her will melting away. Surely this Lady had no ill intent? Her hands relaxed, loosening the string’s grip around Manipulator’s wrists. Chat Noir barely registered what had happened before Manipulator tore her hands free of the string and dove for Ladybug. She latched onto Ladybug’s arm. “He’ll betray you. They always do-” She spoke softly into Ladybug’s ear. “Agh!” She cried out as Chat Noir’s staff whapped her in the back of her head. She stumbled back, releasing Ladybug’s arm.

“Ladybug.” Chat Noir said, concern filling his eyes. He completely ignored Manipulator stumbling back and falling to the ground, appearing to black out. Ladybug blinked a few times before looking at Chat Noir with pure confusion over her face.

“Would you...” She paused, shaking her head. “I don’t think you could...” She breathed out.

“Whatever you’re thinking, it’s only from the akuma.” He reached his arm out, frowning as Ladybug tore her arm away from his hand. "It isn't true."

“Chat...” She frowned furrowing her brows. She jumped a little, feeling a hand wrap around her ankle. She looked down to see Manipulator, who had weakly crawled over, gripping her ankle. Chat Noir groaned and kicked the woman off, scanning her for any possible akuma locations. Manipulator rolled backwards, groaning. Even though she was a villain with powers, her emotional anguish had been the basis for her akumatization, and it's physical toll clearly stuck around. Typically he wouldn't be so physically violent with an akuma victim. This wasn't their fault, and despite the fact they wouldn't remember this or have any injuries, he couldn't help but feel bad when he was forced to attack them so violently.

This was different, however. If Ladybug was being manipulated against him, he had no time to waste. If physical violence was his best option, then so be it. He saw a necklace, headband, and ring that all looked like potential spots. He tore the necklace off, ripped the headband from her hair, then slid off the ring with mild difficulty. He split the headband in half and dropped the akuma-less pieces to the ground. He sighed and threw the ring to the ground and watched it shatter, relieved as the akuma flew out.

Ladybug shook her head and looked around, her mind snapping to attention as she watched the akuma begin to flutter away. She came more or less to her senses as she tossed her yoyo at it, she purified it and released the white butterfly. Chat Noir breathed out in relief as her yoyo returned everything to normal. The once akumatized woman laid on the ground, any damage done by Chat Noir quickly healed. She blinked a few times then sat up.

Chat Noir expected Ladybug to crouch down and speak to the woman, but due to her lack of responsiveness, he took over and crouched down in her place. “Are you feeling alright?” He asked.

“Y-yeah.” Madeline said. “Did...” She took a shaky breath. “Oh my god. Dan... He really...” She let out a sob, balling her fists over her lap. She tore off her repaired ring and threw it to the ground with far less force than Chat Noir had.

“It’s going to be okay. You can do better than him, I guarantee it.” He gave her a compassionate smile. “Most people aren’t like him. You’ll find someone again.”

“I... I need to go.” Madeline stood up and took off, covering her mouth. Chat Noir returned to Ladybug and rested his hand on her shoulder.

“My Lady... Are you okay?” He asked.

“Yeah, I am. It’s just that... The akuma made me think things I would never really think.” She stared at the ground.

“Like what?”

“Like... You don’t really like me... You... you feel obligated to be with me...” She sighed. “Stuff like that.”

“Of course that isn’t true.” Chat Noir carefully lifted her jaw to face him. “I obviously like you. Quite a bit, in fact...” He trailed off, a sly grin developing. “I may even dare to call you the cat’s meow.”

Ladybug groaned, hiding a laugh. “Chat...” Her face softened, the doubt and confusion fading. He leaned in, leaving a light kiss over her face.

“We should get back to the photoshoot before the Gorilla goes looking for us.” He said, pulling away.

“Yeah, we should.” Ladybug said, her voice a million times less tense.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! I'm fairly certain this will be the last chapter of 'Hidden'. Unless I come up with something in the next few days before I mark it as complete, that is. I really appreciate all of the support I've received while writing this, and seeing as this is my first ML fan fiction (and my first fanfic in a very, very long time.) I'm positive I'll write another one as soon as I come up with an idea I like. 
> 
> Again, thank you for reading!


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